Engineered substrate architecture for InGaN red micro-LEDs

ABSTRACT

A light emitting diode (LED) device includes a substrate and a plurality of mesa structures. Each mesa structure includes a layer of a first semiconductor material, a porous layer of the first semiconductor material on the layer of the first semiconductor material, and a layer of a second semiconductor material on the porous layer. The porous layer is characterized by an areal porosity ≥15%. The second semiconductor material is characterized by a lattice constant greater than a lattice constant of the first semiconductor material. Each mesa structure also includes an active region on the layer of the second semiconductor material and configured to emit red light, a p-contact layer on the active region, a dielectric layer on sidewalls of the p-contact layer and the active region, and an n-contact layer in physical contact with at least a portion of sidewalls of the layer of the second semiconductor material.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The following two U.S. patent applications (including this one) arebeing filed concurrently, and the entire disclosure of the otherapplication is incorporated by reference into this application for allpurposes:

application Ser. No. 17/138,258, filed Dec. 30, 2020, entitled“ENGINEERED SUBSTRATE ARCHITECTURE FOR INGAN RED MICRO-LEDS”; and

application Ser. No. 17/138,275, filed Dec. 30, 2020, entitled“ENGINEERED WAFER WITH SELECTIVE POROSIFICATION FOR MULTI-COLOR LIGHTEMISSION”.

BACKGROUND

Light emitting diodes (LEDs) convert electrical energy into opticalenergy, and offer many benefits over other light sources, such asreduced size, improved durability, and increased efficiency. LEDs can beused as light sources in many display systems, such as televisions,computer monitors, laptop computers, tablets, smartphones, projectionsystems, and wearable electronic devices. Micro-LEDs (“μLEDs”) based onIII-V semiconductors, such as alloys of AlN, GaN, InN, AlGaInP, otherquaternary phosphide compositions, and the like, have begun to bedeveloped for various display applications due to their small size(e.g., with a linear dimension less than 100 μm, less than 50 μm, lessthan 10 μm, or less than 5 μm), high packing density (and hence higherresolution), and high brightness. For example, micro-LEDs that emitlight of different colors (e.g., red, green, and blue) can be used toform the sub-pixels of a display system, such as a television or anear-eye display system.

SUMMARY

This disclosure relates generally to micro light emitting diodes(micro-LEDs). More specifically, this disclosure relates tohigh-efficiency micro-LEDs configured to emit light in various colors(e.g., red, green, and/or blue), and the fabrication of thehigh-efficiency micro-LEDs using, for example, III-nitride semiconductormaterials. According to certain embodiments, an LED device may include asubstrate and a plurality of mesa structures on the substrate. Each mesastructure may include a layer of a first semiconductor material grown onthe substrate, a porous layer of the first semiconductor material on thelayer of the first semiconductor material, and a layer of a secondsemiconductor material on the porous layer. The porous layer may becharacterized by an areal porosity equal to or greater than about 15%.The second semiconductor material may be characterized by a latticeconstant greater than a lattice constant of the first semiconductormaterial. Each mesa structure may also include an active region on thelayer of the second semiconductor material and configured to emit redlight, a p-contact layer on the active region, a dielectric layer onsidewalls of the p-contact layer and the active region, and an n-contactlayer in physical contact with at least a portion of sidewalls of thelayer of the second semiconductor material.

In some embodiments, the first semiconductor material may include afirst III-nitride semiconductor material (e.g., GaN), and the secondsemiconductor material may include a second III-nitride semiconductormaterial (e.g., InGaN). The active region may include at least onequantum well layer, the at least one quantum well layer includingIn_(x)Ga_(1-x)N, where x>0.2. The layer of the second semiconductormaterial may include In_(x)Ga_(1-x)N, where 0<x≤0.2. The dielectriclayer may be between the n-contact layer and the sidewalls of thep-contact layer and the active region. The dielectric layer is on aportion of the sidewalls of the layer of the second semiconductormaterial. The n-contact layer may be on sidewalls of the porous layerand at least a portion of sidewalls of the layer of the firstsemiconductor material. The layer of the second semiconductor materialmay have a lower resistance than the porous layer. the areal porosity ofthe porous layer may be between about 30% and about 90%. A thickness ofthe porous layer may be greater than about 50 nm.

In some embodiments, the substrate may include a buffer layer and asapphire or silicon substrate layer. In some embodiments, the layer ofthe first semiconductor material and the porous layer may be n-doped;and a difference between a doping density of the porous layer and thedoping density of the layer of the first semiconductor material may beless than about 5%. In some embodiments, the LED device may include apatterned dielectric layer on the substrate. The substrate may include abuffer layer. The patterned dielectric layer may be on the buffer layerand may include a plurality of apertures to expose portions of thesubstrate. The layer of the first semiconductor material in each mesastructure of the plurality of mesa structures may be grown on arespective portion of the buffer layer through a respective aperture ofthe plurality of apertures. In some embodiments, the LED device mayinclude a driver backplane bonded to the plurality of mesa structures.The driver backplane may include driver circuits electrically connectedto the p-contact layer and the n-contact layer of each mesa structure ofthe plurality of mesa structures.

According to certain embodiments, a method of fabricating an LED devicemay include forming a plurality of precursor mesa structures on asubstrate, forming an LED layer stack on each precursor mesa structureof the plurality of precursor mesa structures, etching the LED layerstack using a mask layer to remove peripheral regions of the LED layerstack and to form one or more pixel mesa structures on each precursormesa structure of the plurality of precursor mesa structures, forming adielectric layer on sidewalls of each pixel mesa structures of the oneor more pixel mesa structures, etching the plurality of precursor mesastructures on the substrate using the mask layer on the one or morepixel mesa structure, and forming an n-contact layer on sidewalls ofeach pixel mesa structure of the one or more pixel mesa structures, then-contact layer in physical contact with the dielectric layer, at leasta portion of sidewalls of the layer of the second semiconductormaterial, and sidewalls of the porous layer. Each precursor mesastructure of the plurality of precursor mesa structures may include alayer of a first semiconductor material grown on the substrate, a porouslayer of the first semiconductor material on the layer of the firstsemiconductor material and characterized by an areal porosity equal toor greater than about 15%, and a layer of a second semiconductormaterial on the porous layer, where the second semiconductor materialmay be characterized by a lattice constant greater than a latticeconstant of the first semiconductor material. The LED layer stack mayinclude an active region on the layer of the second semiconductormaterial and configured to emit red light, and a p-contact layer on theactive region.

In some embodiments, forming the plurality of precursor mesa structureson the substrate may include growing, on the substrate, an epitaxiallayer stack that may include the layer of the first semiconductormaterial, an n⁺-type layer of the first semiconductor material, and thelayer of the second semiconductor material on the n⁺-type layer;electrochemically etching the n⁺-type layer of the first semiconductormaterial to form the porous layer; etching the epitaxial layer stack toform the plurality of precursor mesa structures; and thermally treatingthe plurality of precursor mesa structures to cause the layer of thesecond semiconductor material to relax. The layer of the firstsemiconductor material may be n-doped with a doping density less than1×10¹⁹ cm⁻³. The n⁺-type layer of the first semiconductor material mayhave a higher doping density than the layer of the first semiconductormaterial. Electrochemically etching the n⁺-type layer of the firstsemiconductor material may include etching the n⁺-type layer of thefirst semiconductor material until a difference between a doping densityof the n⁺-type layer and a doping density of the layer of the firstsemiconductor material is less than 5%.

In some embodiments, forming the plurality of precursor mesa structureson the substrate may include forming, on the substrate, a patterneddielectric layer that includes a plurality of apertures to exposeportions of a buffer layer on the substrate; growing, through arespective aperture of the plurality of apertures, a respectiveepitaxial layer stack on each exposed portion of the exposed portions ofthe buffer layer on substrate, the respective epitaxial layer stackincluding the layer of the first semiconductor material, an n⁺-typelayer of the first semiconductor material, and the layer of the secondsemiconductor material on the n⁺-type layer; electrochemically etchingthe n⁺-type layer of the first semiconductor material to form the porouslayer; and thermally treating the plurality of precursor mesa structuresto cause the layer of the second semiconductor material to relax.

In some embodiments, forming the LED layer stack may include forming agrowth mask layer on sidewalls of each precursor mesa structure of theplurality of precursor mesa structures, growing the active region on thelayer of the second semiconductor material, and forming the p-contactlayer on the active region.

According to certain embodiments, an engineered wafer may include aplurality of mesa structures, where the plurality of mesa structures mayinclude a first mesa structure and a second mesa structure. The firstmesa structure may include a first porous layer of a first semiconductormaterial having a first lattice constant, and a first layer of a secondsemiconductor material on the first porous layer. The first porous layermay be characterized by a first porosity. The second semiconductormaterial may be characterized by a second lattice constant greater thanthe first lattice constant. The second mesa structure may include asecond porous layer of the first semiconductor material, and a secondlayer of the second semiconductor material on the second porous layer.The second porous layer may be characterized by a second porositydifferent from the first porosity.

In some embodiments of the engineered wafer, the first semiconductormaterial may include a first III-nitride semiconductor material (e.g.,GaN); and the second semiconductor material includes a secondIII-nitride semiconductor material (e.g., InGaN). The engineered wafermay also include a substrate and an n-type layer of the firstsemiconductor material on the substrate, where the plurality of mesastructures is on the n-type layer of the first semiconductor material.In some embodiments, the engineered wafer may also include a firstactive region on the first layer of the second semiconductor materialand configured to emit light of a first color, and a second activeregion on the second layer of the second semiconductor material andconfigured to emit light of a second color different from the firstcolor. The first active region may include an In_(x)Ga_(1-x)N quantumwell layer. The second active region may include an In_(y)Ga_(1-y)Nquantum well layer, where y is different from x, and x may greater thanabout 0.2. In some embodiments, the first layer of the secondsemiconductor material and the second layer of the second semiconductormaterial may include In_(x)Ga_(1-x)N, where 0<x≤0.2.

In some embodiments of the engineered wafer, the first mesa structuremay include a first distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) that includes thefirst porous layer, the first DBR configured to reflect light in a firstwavelength band. The second mesa structure comprises a second DBR thatincludes the second porous layer, the second DBR configured to reflectlight in a second wavelength band. In some embodiments, the plurality ofmesa structures may include a third mesa structure that may include athird porous layer of the first semiconductor material having a thirdporosity different from the first porosity and the second porosity, anda third layer of the second semiconductor material on the third porouslayer.

According to certain embodiments, a light source may include asemiconductor substrate and a plurality of light emitting pixels on thesemiconductor substrate. The plurality of light emitting pixels mayinclude a first set of light emitting pixels and a second set of lightemitting pixels. Each light emitting pixel of the first set of lightemitting pixels may include a first porous layer of a firstsemiconductor material having a first lattice constant, a first layer ofa second semiconductor material on the first porous layer, and a firstactive region on the first layer of the second semiconductor material.The first porous layer may be characterized by a first porosity. Thesecond semiconductor material may be characterized by a second latticeconstant greater than the first lattice constant. The first activeregion may be configured to emit light in a first color. Each lightemitting pixel of the second set of light emitting pixels may include asecond porous layer of the first semiconductor material, a second layerof the second semiconductor material on the second porous layer, and asecond active region on the second layer of the second semiconductormaterial. The second porous layer may be characterized by a secondporosity different from the first porosity. The second active region maybe configured to emit light in a second color.

In some embodiments, the first active region may include anIn_(x)Ga_(1-x)N quantum well layer, and the second active regionincludes an In_(y)Ga_(1-y)N quantum well layer, where y is differentfrom x. In some embodiments, each light emitting pixel of the first setof light emitting pixels further may include a first distributed Braggreflector (DBR) that includes the first porous layer and is configuredto reflect light in a first wavelength band, and a first mirror, wherethe first mirror and the first DBR may form a first cavity, and thefirst active region may be in the first cavity. Each light emittingpixel of the second set of light emitting pixels may include a secondDBR that includes the second porous layer and is configured to reflectlight in a second wavelength band, and a second mirror that, togetherwith the second DBR, forms a second cavity, where the second activeregion is in the second cavity. In some embodiments, the plurality oflight emitting pixels may include a third set of light emitting pixels.Each light emitting pixel of the third set of light emitting pixels mayinclude a third porous layer of the first semiconductor material, athird layer of the second semiconductor material on the third porouslayer, and a third active region on the third layer of the secondsemiconductor material. The third porous layer may be characterized by athird porosity different from the first porosity and the secondporosity. The third active region may be configured to emit light in athird color.

According to certain embodiments, a method may include forming aplurality of mesa structures on a layer of a first semiconductormaterial having a first lattice constant, performing a first porositytreatment process on a first set of mesa structures of the plurality ofmesa structures to form porous layers in the n+-type layers of the firstset of mesa structures, performing a second porosity treatment processon a second set of mesa structures of the plurality of mesa structuresto form porous layers in the n+-type layers of the second set of mesastructures, and thermally treating the plurality of mesa structures tocause the layer of the second semiconductor material to relax. Each mesastructure of the plurality of mesa structures may include an n⁺-typelayer of the first semiconductor material; and a layer of a secondsemiconductor material on the n⁺-type layer, the second semiconductormaterial having a second lattice constant different from the firstlattice constant.

In some embodiments, the method may also include growing a first activeregion on each mesa structure of the first set of mesa structures, thefirst active region including an In_(x)Ga_(1-x)N quantum well layer; andgrowing a second active region on each mesa structure of the second setof mesa structures, the second active region including anIn_(y)Ga_(1-y)N quantum well layer, where y is different from x. In someembodiments, performing the first porosity treatment process may includeelectrochemically etching the n⁺-type layers of the first set of mesastructures for a first time period, and performing the second porositytreatment process may include electrochemically etching the n⁺-typelayers of the second set of mesa structures for a second time period. Insome embodiments, performing the first porosity treatment process mayinclude electrochemically etching the n⁺-type layers of the first set ofmesa structures using a first voltage signal for a time period, andperforming the second porosity treatment process may includeelectrochemically etching the n⁺-type layers of the second set of mesastructures using a second voltage signal for the time period, where thesecond voltage signal may be higher than the first voltage signal. Insome embodiments, performing the first porosity treatment process mayinclude implanting ions in the n⁺-type layers of the first set of mesastructures to change a donor density of the n⁺-type layers of the firstset of mesa structures, and electrochemically etching the n⁺-type layersof the first set of mesa structures.

In some embodiments, each mesa structure of the plurality of mesastructures may include a plurality of layers between the layer of thefirst semiconductor material and the layer of the second semiconductormaterial. The plurality of layers may include a first set ofunintentionally doped layers of the first semiconductor material, and asecond set of n⁺-type layers of the first semiconductor material, wherethe second set of n⁺-type layers includes the n⁺-type layer of the firstsemiconductor material. The first set of unintentionally doped layersand the second set of n⁺-type layers may be interleaved. The firstporosity treatment process may form, for each mesa structure of thefirst set of mesa structures, a respective porous layer in each of thesecond set of n⁺-type layers.

This summary is neither intended to identify key or essential featuresof the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used inisolation to determine the scope of the claimed subject matter. Thesubject matter should be understood by reference to appropriate portionsof the entire specification of this disclosure, any or all drawings, andeach claim. The foregoing, together with other features and examples,will be described in more detail below in the following specification,claims, and accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Illustrative embodiments are described in detail below with reference tothe following figures.

FIG. 1 is a simplified block diagram of an example of an artificialreality system environment including a near-eye display according tocertain embodiments.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an example of a near-eye display in theform of a head-mounted display (HMD) device for implementing some of theexamples disclosed herein.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an example of a near-eye display in theform of a pair of glasses for implementing some of the examplesdisclosed herein.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of an optical see-through augmentedreality system including a waveguide display according to certainembodiments.

FIG. 5A illustrates an example of a near-eye display device including awaveguide display according to certain embodiments.

FIG. 5B illustrates an example of a near-eye display device including awaveguide display according to certain embodiments.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example of an image source assembly in anaugmented reality system according to certain embodiments.

FIG. 7A illustrates an example of a light emitting diode (LED) having avertical mesa structure according to certain embodiments.

FIG. 7B is a cross-sectional view of an example of an LED having aparabolic mesa structure according to certain embodiments.

FIG. 8A illustrates an example of a micro-LED with a mesa structure.

FIG. 8B illustrates a simplified energy band structure of the activeregion of the example of micro-LED shown in FIG. 8A.

FIG. 9 illustrates lattice constants and bandgap energy of examples ofIII-V semiconductor materials.

FIG. 10A illustrates an example of setup for fabricating poroussemiconductor material layers using electrochemical etching according tocertain embodiments.

FIG. 10B includes a scanning electron microscopy (SEM) image of anexample of a layer stack including porous GaN layers according tocertain embodiments.

FIG. 10C illustrates an example of redshift of an example of a quantumwell grown on a porous GaN layer according to certain embodiments.

FIGS. 11A-11E illustrate an example of a red micro-LED device fabricatedon a porous GaN layer and an example of a method of fabricating the redmicro-LED according to certain embodiments.

FIGS. 12A-12H illustrate an example of a method of fabricating redmicro-LEDs on a porous GaN layer according to certain embodiments.

FIGS. 13A-13P illustrate an example of a method of fabricating redmicro-LEDs on a porous GaN layer according to certain embodiments.

FIG. 14A illustrates an example of a red micro-LED mesa structure on aporous GaN layer according to certain embodiments.

FIG. 14B illustrates an example of a red micro-LED mesa structure on aporous GaN layer according to certain embodiments.

FIGS. 15A-15F illustrate an example of a method of fabricating the redmicro-LED mesa structure shown in FIG. 14A according to certainembodiments.

FIGS. 16A-16F illustrate an example of a method of fabricating the redmicro-LED mesa structure shown in FIG. 14B according to certainembodiments.

FIG. 17 illustrates an example of an array of red micro-LED mesastructures fabricated using the method shown in FIGS. 16A-16F accordingto certain embodiments.

FIG. 18 includes a simplified flowchart illustrating an example of amethod of fabricating red micro-LEDs according to certain embodiments.

FIG. 19 illustrates an example of a layer stack in a micro-LED accordingto certain embodiments.

FIG. 20 illustrates an example of an engineered wafer includingprecursor mesa structures for growing micro-LEDs that emit light ofdifferent colors according to certain embodiments.

FIGS. 21A-21E illustrate an example of a method of selectiveporosification of different regions of a doped semiconductor layer in anengineered wafer according to certain embodiments.

FIGS. 22A-22D illustrate another example of a method of selectiveporosification of different regions of a doped semiconductor layer in anengineered wafer according to certain embodiments.

FIG. 23 illustrates the wavelength shift of micro-LEDs fabricated onengineered wafers including buffer layers that include a porous GaNlayer and a relaxed InGaN layer according to certain embodiments.

FIG. 24 illustrates an example of an engineered wafer including DBRs fordifferent wavelength bands according to certain embodiments.

FIG. 25 illustrates an example of a wafer including VCSELs that emitlight in different wavelength ranges according to certain embodiments.

FIG. 26 includes a simplified flowchart illustrating an example of amethod of fabricating multi-color light emitting devices on a same waferor die according to certain embodiments.

FIG. 27A illustrates an example of a method of die-to-wafer bonding forarrays of LEDs according to certain embodiments.

FIG. 27B illustrates an example of a method of wafer-to-wafer bondingfor arrays of LEDs according to certain embodiments.

FIGS. 28A-28D illustrates an example of a method of hybrid bonding forarrays of LEDs according to certain embodiments.

FIG. 29 illustrates an example of an LED array with secondary opticalcomponents fabricated thereon according to certain embodiments.

FIG. 30 is a simplified block diagram of an electronic system of anexample of a near-eye display according to certain embodiments.

The figures depict embodiments of the present disclosure for purposes ofillustration only. One skilled in the art will readily recognize fromthe following description that alternative embodiments of the structuresand methods illustrated may be employed without departing from theprinciples, or benefits touted, of this disclosure.

In the appended figures, similar components and/or features may have thesame reference label. Further, various components of the same type maybe distinguished by following the reference label by a dash and a secondlabel that distinguishes among the similar components. If only the firstreference label is used in the specification, the description isapplicable to any one of the similar components having the same firstreference label irrespective of the second reference label.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

This disclosure relates generally to light emitting diodes (LEDs). Morespecifically, and without limitation, techniques disclosed herein relateto high-efficiency micro-LEDs configured to emit light in various colors(e.g., red, green, and/or blue), and the fabrication of thehigh-efficiency micro-LEDs using, for example, III-nitride semiconductormaterials. Various inventive embodiments are described herein, includingdevices, systems, engineered wafers, bonded wafer/die stacks, packages,methods, processes, materials, and the like.

III-nitride materials, such as alloys of Al, In, Ga, and N, can be usedto make LEDs that emit light in different colors. For example,alternating layers of GaN and In_(x)Ga_(1-x)N may be used to formquantum wells in which carriers confined by energy barriers mayradiatively recombine to emit light. For blue LEDs, the indium molefraction x is typically <0.2. Increasing the amount of indiumincorporated into the In_(x)Ga_(1-x)N quantum well layers may reduce thebandgap energy, thereby increasing the wavelength of the light emittedby the LED from blue light to green, red, and infrared light.

However, GaN and In_(x)Ga_(1-x)N materials have different latticeconstants, and thus alternately growing the GaN and In_(x)Ga_(1-x)Nlayers may introduce compressive or tensile strain in the active region.Increasing the amount of indium incorporated into the In_(x)Ga_(1-x)Nquantum well layers may also increase the lattice constant of theIn_(x)Ga_(1-x)N quantum well layers, thereby increasing the latticeconstant mismatch between the GaN and In_(x)Ga_(1-x)N layers and thestrain in the layers. The efficiency of incorporating indium in strainedIn_(x)Ga_(1-x)N layers is typically low. High In-content In_(x)Ga_(1-x)Nlayers (e.g., x>0.2) are generally formed using low temperature growthprocesses that may be prone to phase segregation, which may havedetrimental effects on the internal quantum efficiency (IQE) of the LEDsdue to the high defect density. Therefore, increasing the indium molefraction x in In_(x)Ga_(1-x)N above 0.2 to make native green and redLEDs may significantly reduce the efficiency of the LEDs. For example,to form native red LEDs (e.g., LEDs with a peak emission wavelength in arange between 600 nm and 680 nm), the active regions of the LEDstypically need to include In_(x)Ga_(1-x)N layers with indium molefraction x at least 0.3. Strains in In_(x)Ga_(1-x)N layers with such ahigh In-content may significantly increase the defect density and reducethe efficiency of the LEDs.

According to one example disclosed herein, a red micro-LED array mayinclude a porous GaN layer that has a porosity greater than, forexample, about 50% or about 70%, such that an InGaN layer (e.g.,functioning as a buffer layer) on the porous GaN layer may bestrain-relaxed. As a result, high-temperature epitaxial growth can beperformed to grow high-quality active layers (e.g., InGaN quantum welllayers) on the porous GaN layer and the relaxed InGaN layer, whileincorporating more indium into the InGaN layers during thehigh-temperature epitaxial growth. Therefore, high quality (e.g., lowstrain and low defect density) InGaN layers with high indiumconcentration may be grown on the porous GaN layer and the relaxed InGaNlayer, and thus a large red shift of the wavelength of the emitted lightinto the red color region and a high quantum efficiency may be achieved.Furthermore, the current path between the re-contact and the activeregion is made to bypass the high-resistance porous GaN layer, and thusa low resistance path between the n-contact and the active region may becreated in each micro-LED in the micro-LED array. In addition, thesidewall overgrowth regions at the sidewalls of the active region thathave more defects and undesired crystalline orientations and thus cancause high leakage may be etched away in the processes disclosed herein.Therefore, the leakage at the mesa sidewalls may be reduced and theefficiency of the micro-LEDs may be improved.

According to one example of the processes disclosed herein, a redmicro-LED array may be fabricated using three mesa etching steps. In thefirst mesa etching step, a layer stack that includes an n-GaN layer, aporous GaN layer, and a relaxed InGaN layer grown on a substrate may beetched to form large mesa structures. Each large mesa structure (alsoreferred to herein as precursor mesa structure) may have a lateraldimension larger than the lateral dimension of an individual micro-LEDto be formed. For example, each large mesa structure may be used to formmultiple micro-LEDs, such as 4, 6, 8, 9, or more micro-LEDs. Theformation of the large mesa structures may create space for InGaN layerrelaxation and expansion to avoid bowing of the InGaN layer during therelaxation in a thermal treatment process. The large mesa structureswith the relaxed InGaN layer at the growth surface may be used to regrowthe active regions of the micro-LEDs, where the active regions grown onthe large mesa structures may have a high indium concentration in theInGaN quantum well layers that may also have a low strain and a lowdefect density. The active regions may include sidewall overgrowthregions that may cause high leakage as described above. A second mesaetching step may be performed to remove the sidewall overgrowth regions.The second mesa etching step may also etch the large mesa structuresincluding the overgrown active regions (and a p-contact layer) intoindividual mesa structures (also referred to herein as pixel mesastructures) for individual micro-LEDs. A dielectric layer may then beformed on the sidewalls of the active region (and sidewalls of thep-contact layer) of each pixel mesa structure. A third mesa etching stepmay include self-aligned etching of the pixel mesa structures down tothe n-GaN layer. An n-contact layer may then be formed on the sidewallsof etched pixel mesa structure, where the n-contact layer may inphysical contact with the relaxed InGaN layer, thereby bypassing thehigh-resistance porous GaN layer and forming a low-resistance currentpath between the n-contact layer and the active region in eachmicro-LED.

Therefore, techniques disclosed herein can achieve high qualityepitaxial layers with high indium concentration and can provide alow-resistance current path to the active region. As such,high-efficiency red micro-LEDs may be achieved using III-nitridematerials, such as InGaN/GaN. For example, the external quantumefficiency (EQE) of a 5-um InGaN red micro-LED may be improved fromabout 1.5% to about 3.5% or higher using techniques disclosed herein,and the peak-efficiency current density of the 5-um InGaN red micro-LEDmay be reduced from about 20 A/cm² to about 1 A/cm² or lower.

To display color images using micro-LEDs, micro-LEDs that can emit lightin different colors (e.g., red, green, and blue) may be needed, whereeach pixel of a color image may be generated by, for example, a redmicro-LED pixel, a green micro-LED pixel, and a blue micro-LED pixel. Ingeneral, micro-LEDs manufactured on a same wafer or die may only emitlight in a same color. Therefore, to display color images, threemicro-LED dies or three display panels may generally be used. The numberof micro-LED dies or display panels may be reduced using sometechniques.

For example, shorter-wavelength light (e.g., blue light) generated by alight source may be converted to longer-wavelength light (e.g., green orred light) using, for example, color phosphors or quantum dots.Therefore, a display panel may use an array of blue micro-LEDs anddifferent phosphors or quantum dots to convert some blue micro-LEDs intogreen and red micro-LEDs. However, these color conversion techniques mayhave a low lifetime, such as a poor quantum dot lifetime. In addition,it is difficult to achieve small pixel pitches, such as pixel pitchesless than about 5 μm, using these color conversion techniques.Furthermore, the color conversion efficiency for small pixel pitchdisplays may be very low. In some cases, distributed Bragg reflector(DBR) structures may also be needed to block the leakage of unconvertedblue light. Therefore, these color conversion techniques may not besuitable for displays with small pixel pitches.

In some micro-LED devices, green quantum wells may be grown on top of orbeside blue quantum wells, for example, using a regrowth process.However, the quality and quantum efficiencies of such micro-LED devicesmay be very low. In addition, red micro-LEDs may not be incorporatedinto the micro-LED devices using the same techniques.

According to certain embodiments, an engineered wafer may include aporous semiconductor (e.g., GaN) layer that has different porosities indifferent regions. The different porosities in different regions of theporous semiconductor layer may cause different amounts of strainrelaxation of a buffer layer (e.g., an InGaN layer) on the poroussemiconductor layer. As such, different amounts of indium may beincorporated into the active regions grown on different regions of theporous semiconductor layer and the strain-relaxed buffer layer. Thedifferent amounts of indium in the active regions may cause differentred shifts of the light emitted in the active regions. Therefore, theengineered wafer may be used to grow active regions of micro-LEDs thatemit light in two or more different colors. As such, micro-LEDs that mayemit light in different colors may be fabricated on a same wafer or in asame die, such that one or two micro-LED dies or display panels, ratherthan three micro-LED dies or display panels, can be used to generatecolor images.

The different porosities in different regions of the poroussemiconductor layer may be achieved through selective porosification ofa doped semiconductor layer grown on the substrate of the engineeredwafer. For example, different regions of the doped semiconductor layermay be subjected to a porosity treatment process (e.g., anelectrochemical etching process) for different durations. In anotherexample, different regions of the doped semiconductor layer may havedifferent doping densities, and thus may have different porosities aftera same porosity treatment process.

Techniques disclosed herein can also be used to make other devices thatare in a same die or on a same wafer but have different opticalproperties. For example, DBRs may be made using porous semiconductorlayers and other layers. The refractive index of a porous semiconductorlayer in a DBR may be a function of the porosity of the poroussemiconductor layer. Therefore, DBRs for different wavelength bands maybe formed on a same wafer or a same die by selective porosification ofdoped semiconductor layers in different regions to achieve desiredporosities and refractive indexes in the porosified semiconductorlayers. The DBRs for different wavelength bands may be used to makeresonant-cavity micro-LEDs that emit light in different colors, or maybe used to form cavities for converting light emitted in the activeregions into light of different colors. The DBRs for differentwavelength bands may also be used to make multi-color vertical-cavitysurface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) in a same die or on a same wafer.

The micro-LEDs described herein may be used in conjunction with varioustechnologies, such as an artificial reality system. An artificialreality system, such as a head-mounted display (HMD) or heads-up display(HUD) system, generally includes a display configured to presentartificial images that depict objects in a virtual environment. Thedisplay may present virtual objects or combine images of real objectswith virtual objects, as in virtual reality (VR), augmented reality(AR), or mixed reality (MR) applications. For example, in an AR system,a user may view both displayed images of virtual objects (e.g.,computer-generated images (CGIs)) and the surrounding environment by,for example, seeing through transparent display glasses or lenses (oftenreferred to as optical see-through) or viewing displayed images of thesurrounding environment captured by a camera (often referred to as videosee-through). In some AR systems, the artificial images may be presentedto users using an LED-based display subsystem.

As used herein, the term “light emitting diode (LED)” refers to a lightsource that includes at least an n-type semiconductor layer, a p-typesemiconductor layer, and a light emitting region (i.e., active region)between the n-type semiconductor layer and the p-type semiconductorlayer. The light emitting region may include one or more semiconductorlayers that form one or more heterostructures, such as quantum wells. Insome embodiments, the light emitting region may include multiplesemiconductor layers that form one or more multiple-quantum-wells(MQWs), each including multiple (e.g., about 2 to 6) quantum wells.

As used herein, the term “micro-LED” or “μLED” refers to an LED that hasa chip where a linear dimension of the chip is less than about 200 μm,such as less than 100 μm, less than 50 μm, less than 20 μm, less than 10μm, or smaller. For example, the linear dimension of a micro-LED may beas small as 6 μm, 5 μm, 4 μm, 2 μm, or smaller. Some micro-LEDs may havea linear dimension (e.g., length or diameter) comparable to the minoritycarrier diffusion length. However, the disclosure herein is not limitedto micro-LEDs, and may also be applied to mini-LEDs and large LEDs.

As used herein, the term “LED array precursor” refers to an LED die orwafer that does not have the opposing electrical contacts and/or theassociated driver circuitry for each LED such that a driving voltage orcurrent may be applied to the LED for the LED to emit light. Forexample, an LED array precursor may be a wafer or die with an epitaxiallayer stack that may or may not include the light emitting regions, awafer or die with mesa structures formed in the epitaxial layer stack, awafer or die with LED arrays and metal contacts formed thereon butwithout the driver circuitry, and the like. Accordingly, the LED die orwafer is a precursor to a monolithic LED array that may be formed aftersubsequent processing steps are performed, such as forming mesastructures, forming metal electrodes, bonding to electrical backplane,removing the substrate, forming light-extraction structures, or thelike.

As used herein, the term “bonding” may refer to various methods forphysically and/or electrically connecting two or more devices and/orwafers, such as adhesive bonding, metal-to-metal bonding, metal oxidebonding, wafer-to-wafer bonding, die-to-wafer bonding, hybrid bonding,soldering, under-bump metallization, and the like. For example, adhesivebonding may use a curable adhesive (e.g., an epoxy) to physically bondtwo or more devices and/or wafers through adhesion. Metal-to-metalbonding may include, for example, wire bonding or flip chip bondingusing soldering interfaces (e.g., pads or balls), conductive adhesive,or welded joints between metals. Metal oxide bonding may form a metaland oxide pattern on each surface, bond the oxide sections together, andthen bond the metal sections together to create a conductive path.Wafer-to-wafer bonding may bond two wafers (e.g., silicon wafers orother semiconductor wafers) without any intermediate layers and is basedon chemical bonds between the surfaces of the two wafers. Wafer-to-waferbonding may include wafer cleaning and other preprocessing, aligning andpre-bonding at room temperature, and annealing at elevated temperatures,such as about 250° C. or higher. Die-to-wafer bonding may use bumps onone wafer to align features of a pre-formed chip with drivers of awafer. Hybrid bonding may include, for example, wafer cleaning,high-precision alignment of contacts of one wafer with contacts ofanother wafer, dielectric bonding of dielectric materials within thewafers at room temperature, and metal bonding of the contacts byannealing at, for example, 250-300° C. or higher. As used herein, theterm “bump” may refer generically to a metal interconnect used or formedduring bonding.

In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, specificdetails are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding ofexamples of the disclosure. However, it will be apparent that variousexamples may be practiced without these specific details. For example,devices, systems, structures, assemblies, methods, and other componentsmay be shown as components in block diagram form in order not to obscurethe examples in unnecessary detail. In other instances, well-knowndevices, processes, systems, structures, and techniques may be shownwithout necessary detail in order to avoid obscuring the examples. Thefigures and description are not intended to be restrictive. The termsand expressions that have been employed in this disclosure are used asterms of description and not of limitation, and there is no intention inthe use of such terms and expressions of excluding any equivalents ofthe features shown and described or portions thereof. The word “example”is used herein to mean “serving as an example, instance, orillustration.” Any embodiment or design described herein as “example” isnot necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over otherembodiments or designs.

FIG. 1 is a simplified block diagram of an example of an artificialreality system environment 100 including a near-eye display 120 inaccordance with certain embodiments. Artificial reality systemenvironment 100 shown in FIG. 1 may include near-eye display 120, anoptional external imaging device 150, and an optional input/outputinterface 140, each of which may be coupled to an optional console 110.While FIG. 1 shows an example of artificial reality system environment100 including one near-eye display 120, one external imaging device 150,and one input/output interface 140, any number of these components maybe included in artificial reality system environment 100, or any of thecomponents may be omitted. For example, there may be multiple near-eyedisplays 120 monitored by one or more external imaging devices 150 incommunication with console 110. In some configurations, artificialreality system environment 100 may not include external imaging device150, optional input/output interface 140, and optional console 110. Inalternative configurations, different or additional components may beincluded in artificial reality system environment 100.

Near-eye display 120 may be a head-mounted display that presents contentto a user. Examples of content presented by near-eye display 120 includeone or more of images, videos, audio, or any combination thereof. Insome embodiments, audio may be presented via an external device (e.g.,speakers and/or headphones) that receives audio information fromnear-eye display 120, console 110, or both, and presents audio databased on the audio information. Near-eye display 120 may include one ormore rigid bodies, which may be rigidly or non-rigidly coupled to eachother. A rigid coupling between rigid bodies may cause the coupled rigidbodies to act as a single rigid entity. A non-rigid coupling betweenrigid bodies may allow the rigid bodies to move relative to each other.In various embodiments, near-eye display 120 may be implemented in anysuitable form-factor, including a pair of glasses. Some embodiments ofnear-eye display 120 are further described below with respect to FIGS. 2and 3 . Additionally, in various embodiments, the functionalitydescribed herein may be used in a headset that combines images of anenvironment external to near-eye display 120 and artificial realitycontent (e.g., computer-generated images). Therefore, near-eye display120 may augment images of a physical, real-world environment external tonear-eye display 120 with generated content (e.g., images, video, sound,etc.) to present an augmented reality to a user.

In various embodiments, near-eye display 120 may include one or more ofdisplay electronics 122, display optics 124, and an eye-tracking unit130. In some embodiments, near-eye display 120 may also include one ormore locators 126, one or more position sensors 128, and an inertialmeasurement unit (IMU) 132. Near-eye display 120 may omit any ofeye-tracking unit 130, locators 126, position sensors 128, and IMU 132,or include additional elements in various embodiments. Additionally, insome embodiments, near-eye display 120 may include elements combiningthe function of various elements described in conjunction with FIG. 1 .

Display electronics 122 may display or facilitate the display of imagesto the user according to data received from, for example, console 110.In various embodiments, display electronics 122 may include one or moredisplay panels, such as a liquid crystal display (LCD), an organic lightemitting diode (OLED) display, an inorganic light emitting diode (ILED)display, a micro light emitting diode (μLED) display, an active-matrixOLED display (AMOLED), a transparent OLED display (TOLED), or some otherdisplay. For example, in one implementation of near-eye display 120,display electronics 122 may include a front TOLED panel, a rear displaypanel, and an optical component (e.g., an attenuator, polarizer, ordiffractive or spectral film) between the front and rear display panels.Display electronics 122 may include pixels to emit light of apredominant color such as red, green, blue, white, or yellow. In someimplementations, display electronics 122 may display a three-dimensional(3D) image through stereoscopic effects produced by two-dimensionalpanels to create a subjective perception of image depth. For example,display electronics 122 may include a left display and a right displaypositioned in front of a user's left eye and right eye, respectively.The left and right displays may present copies of an image shiftedhorizontally relative to each other to create a stereoscopic effect(i.e., a perception of image depth by a user viewing the image).

In certain embodiments, display optics 124 may display image contentoptically (e.g., using optical waveguides and couplers) or magnify imagelight received from display electronics 122, correct optical errorsassociated with the image light, and present the corrected image lightto a user of near-eye display 120. In various embodiments, displayoptics 124 may include one or more optical elements, such as, forexample, a substrate, optical waveguides, an aperture, a Fresnel lens, aconvex lens, a concave lens, a filter, input/output couplers, or anyother suitable optical elements that may affect image light emitted fromdisplay electronics 122. Display optics 124 may include a combination ofdifferent optical elements as well as mechanical couplings to maintainrelative spacing and orientation of the optical elements in thecombination. One or more optical elements in display optics 124 may havean optical coating, such as an anti-reflective coating, a reflectivecoating, a filtering coating, or a combination of different opticalcoatings.

Magnification of the image light by display optics 124 may allow displayelectronics 122 to be physically smaller, weigh less, and consume lesspower than larger displays. Additionally, magnification may increase afield of view of the displayed content. The amount of magnification ofimage light by display optics 124 may be changed by adjusting, adding,or removing optical elements from display optics 124. In someembodiments, display optics 124 may project displayed images to one ormore image planes that may be further away from the user's eyes thannear-eye display 120.

Display optics 124 may also be designed to correct one or more types ofoptical errors, such as two-dimensional optical errors,three-dimensional optical errors, or any combination thereof.Two-dimensional errors may include optical aberrations that occur in twodimensions. Example types of two-dimensional errors may include barreldistortion, pincushion distortion, longitudinal chromatic aberration,and transverse chromatic aberration. Three-dimensional errors mayinclude optical errors that occur in three dimensions. Example types ofthree-dimensional errors may include spherical aberration, comaticaberration, field curvature, and astigmatism.

Locators 126 may be objects located in specific positions on near-eyedisplay 120 relative to one another and relative to a reference point onnear-eye display 120. In some implementations, console 110 may identifylocators 126 in images captured by external imaging device 150 todetermine the artificial reality headset's position, orientation, orboth. A locator 126 may be an LED, a corner cube reflector, a reflectivemarker, a type of light source that contrasts with an environment inwhich near-eye display 120 operates, or any combination thereof. Inembodiments where locators 126 are active components (e.g., LEDs orother types of light emitting devices), locators 126 may emit light inthe visible band (e.g., about 380 nm to 750 nm), in the infrared (IR)band (e.g., about 750 nm to 1 mm), in the ultraviolet band (e.g., about10 nm to about 380 nm), in another portion of the electromagneticspectrum, or in any combination of portions of the electromagneticspectrum.

External imaging device 150 may include one or more cameras, one or morevideo cameras, any other device capable of capturing images includingone or more of locators 126, or any combination thereof. Additionally,external imaging device 150 may include one or more filters (e.g., toincrease signal to noise ratio). External imaging device 150 may beconfigured to detect light emitted or reflected from locators 126 in afield of view of external imaging device 150. In embodiments wherelocators 126 include passive elements (e.g., retroreflectors), externalimaging device 150 may include a light source that illuminates some orall of locators 126, which may retro-reflect the light to the lightsource in external imaging device 150. Slow calibration data may becommunicated from external imaging device 150 to console 110, andexternal imaging device 150 may receive one or more calibrationparameters from console 110 to adjust one or more imaging parameters(e.g., focal length, focus, frame rate, sensor temperature, shutterspeed, aperture, etc.).

Position sensors 128 may generate one or more measurement signals inresponse to motion of near-eye display 120. Examples of position sensors128 may include accelerometers, gyroscopes, magnetometers, othermotion-detecting or error-correcting sensors, or any combinationthereof. For example, in some embodiments, position sensors 128 mayinclude multiple accelerometers to measure translational motion (e.g.,forward/back, up/down, or left/right) and multiple gyroscopes to measurerotational motion (e.g., pitch, yaw, or roll). In some embodiments,various position sensors may be oriented orthogonally to each other.

IMU 132 may be an electronic device that generates fast calibration databased on measurement signals received from one or more of positionsensors 128. Position sensors 128 may be located external to IMU 132,internal to IMU 132, or any combination thereof. Based on the one ormore measurement signals from one or more position sensors 128, IMU 132may generate fast calibration data indicating an estimated position ofnear-eye display 120 relative to an initial position of near-eye display120. For example, IMU 132 may integrate measurement signals receivedfrom accelerometers over time to estimate a velocity vector andintegrate the velocity vector over time to determine an estimatedposition of a reference point on near-eye display 120. Alternatively,IMU 132 may provide the sampled measurement signals to console 110,which may determine the fast calibration data. While the reference pointmay generally be defined as a point in space, in various embodiments,the reference point may also be defined as a point within near-eyedisplay 120 (e.g., a center of IMU 132).

Eye-tracking unit 130 may include one or more eye-tracking systems. Eyetracking may refer to determining an eye's position, includingorientation and location of the eye, relative to near-eye display 120.An eye-tracking system may include an imaging system to image one ormore eyes and may optionally include a light emitter, which may generatelight that is directed to an eye such that light reflected by the eyemay be captured by the imaging system. For example, eye-tracking unit130 may include a non-coherent or coherent light source (e.g., a laserdiode) emitting light in the visible spectrum or infrared spectrum, anda camera capturing the light reflected by the user's eye. As anotherexample, eye-tracking unit 130 may capture reflected radio waves emittedby a miniature radar unit. Eye-tracking unit 130 may use low-power lightemitters that emit light at frequencies and intensities that would notinjure the eye or cause physical discomfort. Eye-tracking unit 130 maybe arranged to increase contrast in images of an eye captured byeye-tracking unit 130 while reducing the overall power consumed byeye-tracking unit 130 (e.g., reducing power consumed by a light emitterand an imaging system included in eye-tracking unit 130). For example,in some implementations, eye-tracking unit 130 may consume less than 100milliwatts of power.

Near-eye display 120 may use the orientation of the eye to, e.g.,determine an inter-pupillary distance (IPD) of the user, determine gazedirection, introduce depth cues (e.g., blur image outside of the user'smain line of sight), collect heuristics on the user interaction in theVR media (e.g., time spent on any particular subject, object, or frameas a function of exposed stimuli), some other functions that are basedin part on the orientation of at least one of the user's eyes, or anycombination thereof. Because the orientation may be determined for botheyes of the user, eye-tracking unit 130 may be able to determine wherethe user is looking. For example, determining a direction of a user'sgaze may include determining a point of convergence based on thedetermined orientations of the user's left and right eyes. A point ofconvergence may be the point where the two foveal axes of the user'seyes intersect. The direction of the user's gaze may be the direction ofa line passing through the point of convergence and the mid-pointbetween the pupils of the user's eyes.

Input/output interface 140 may be a device that allows a user to sendaction requests to console 110. An action request may be a request toperform a particular action. For example, an action request may be tostart or to end an application or to perform a particular action withinthe application. Input/output interface 140 may include one or moreinput devices. Example input devices may include a keyboard, a mouse, agame controller, a glove, a button, a touch screen, or any othersuitable device for receiving action requests and communicating thereceived action requests to console 110. An action request received bythe input/output interface 140 may be communicated to console 110, whichmay perform an action corresponding to the requested action. In someembodiments, input/output interface 140 may provide haptic feedback tothe user in accordance with instructions received from console 110. Forexample, input/output interface 140 may provide haptic feedback when anaction request is received, or when console 110 has performed arequested action and communicates instructions to input/output interface140. In some embodiments, external imaging device 150 may be used totrack input/output interface 140, such as tracking the location orposition of a controller (which may include, for example, an IR lightsource) or a hand of the user to determine the motion of the user. Insome embodiments, near-eye display 120 may include one or more imagingdevices to track input/output interface 140, such as tracking thelocation or position of a controller or a hand of the user to determinethe motion of the user.

Console 110 may provide content to near-eye display 120 for presentationto the user in accordance with information received from one or more ofexternal imaging device 150, near-eye display 120, and input/outputinterface 140. In the example shown in FIG. 1 , console 110 may includean application store 112, a headset tracking module 114, an artificialreality engine 116, and an eye-tracking module 118. Some embodiments ofconsole 110 may include different or additional modules than thosedescribed in conjunction with FIG. 1 . Functions further described belowmay be distributed among components of console 110 in a different mannerthan is described here.

In some embodiments, console 110 may include a processor and anon-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructionsexecutable by the processor. The processor may include multipleprocessing units executing instructions in parallel. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium may be any memory, such as a hard diskdrive, a removable memory, or a solid-state drive (e.g., flash memory ordynamic random access memory (DRAM)). In various embodiments, themodules of console 110 described in conjunction with FIG. 1 may beencoded as instructions in the non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor toperform the functions further described below.

Application store 112 may store one or more applications for executionby console 110. An application may include a group of instructions that,when executed by a processor, generates content for presentation to theuser. Content generated by an application may be in response to inputsreceived from the user via movement of the user's eyes or inputsreceived from the input/output interface 140. Examples of theapplications may include gaming applications, conferencing applications,video playback application, or other suitable applications.

Headset tracking module 114 may track movements of near-eye display 120using slow calibration information from external imaging device 150. Forexample, headset tracking module 114 may determine positions of areference point of near-eye display 120 using observed locators from theslow calibration information and a model of near-eye display 120.Headset tracking module 114 may also determine positions of a referencepoint of near-eye display 120 using position information from the fastcalibration information. Additionally, in some embodiments, headsettracking module 114 may use portions of the fast calibrationinformation, the slow calibration information, or any combinationthereof, to predict a future location of near-eye display 120. Headsettracking module 114 may provide the estimated or predicted futureposition of near-eye display 120 to artificial reality engine 116.

Artificial reality engine 116 may execute applications within artificialreality system environment 100 and receive position information ofnear-eye display 120, acceleration information of near-eye display 120,velocity information of near-eye display 120, predicted future positionsof near-eye display 120, or any combination thereof from headsettracking module 114. Artificial reality engine 116 may also receiveestimated eye position and orientation information from eye-trackingmodule 118. Based on the received information, artificial reality engine116 may determine content to provide to near-eye display 120 forpresentation to the user. For example, if the received informationindicates that the user has looked to the left, artificial realityengine 116 may generate content for near-eye display 120 that mirrorsthe user's eye movement in a virtual environment. Additionally,artificial reality engine 116 may perform an action within anapplication executing on console 110 in response to an action requestreceived from input/output interface 140, and provide feedback to theuser indicating that the action has been performed. The feedback may bevisual or audible feedback via near-eye display 120 or haptic feedbackvia input/output interface 140.

Eye-tracking module 118 may receive eye-tracking data from eye-trackingunit 130 and determine the position of the user's eye based on the eyetracking data. The position of the eye may include an eye's orientation,location, or both relative to near-eye display 120 or any elementthereof. Because the eye's axes of rotation change as a function of theeye's location in its socket, determining the eye's location in itssocket may allow eye-tracking module 118 to more accurately determinethe eye's orientation.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an example of a near-eye display in theform of an HMD device 200 for implementing some of the examplesdisclosed herein. HMD device 200 may be a part of, e.g., a VR system, anAR system, an MR system, or any combination thereof. HMD device 200 mayinclude a body 220 and a head strap 230. FIG. 2 shows a bottom side 223,a front side 225, and a left side 227 of body 220 in the perspectiveview. Head strap 230 may have an adjustable or extendible length. Theremay be a sufficient space between body 220 and head strap 230 of HMDdevice 200 for allowing a user to mount HMD device 200 onto the user'shead. In various embodiments, HMD device 200 may include additional,fewer, or different components. For example, in some embodiments, HMDdevice 200 may include eyeglass temples and temple tips as shown in, forexample, FIG. 3 below, rather than head strap 230.

HMD device 200 may present to a user media including virtual and/oraugmented views of a physical, real-world environment withcomputer-generated elements. Examples of the media presented by HMDdevice 200 may include images (e.g., two-dimensional (2D) orthree-dimensional (3D) images), videos (e.g., 2D or 3D videos), audio,or any combination thereof. The images and videos may be presented toeach eye of the user by one or more display assemblies (not shown inFIG. 2 ) enclosed in body 220 of HMD device 200. In various embodiments,the one or more display assemblies may include a single electronicdisplay panel or multiple electronic display panels (e.g., one displaypanel for each eye of the user). Examples of the electronic displaypanel(s) may include, for example, an LCD, an OLED display, an ILEDdisplay, a μLED display, an AMOLED, a TOLED, some other display, or anycombination thereof. HMD device 200 may include two eye box regions.

In some implementations, HMD device 200 may include various sensors (notshown), such as depth sensors, motion sensors, position sensors, and eyetracking sensors. Some of these sensors may use a structured lightpattern for sensing. In some implementations, HMD device 200 may includean input/output interface for communicating with a console. In someimplementations, HMD device 200 may include a virtual reality engine(not shown) that can execute applications within HMD device 200 andreceive depth information, position information, accelerationinformation, velocity information, predicted future positions, or anycombination thereof of HMD device 200 from the various sensors. In someimplementations, the information received by the virtual reality enginemay be used for producing a signal (e.g., display instructions) to theone or more display assemblies. In some implementations, HMD device 200may include locators (not shown, such as locators 126) located in fixedpositions on body 220 relative to one another and relative to areference point. Each of the locators may emit light that is detectableby an external imaging device.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an example of a near-eye display 300 inthe form of a pair of glasses for implementing some of the examplesdisclosed herein. Near-eye display 300 may be a specific implementationof near-eye display 120 of FIG. 1 , and may be configured to operate asa virtual reality display, an augmented reality display, and/or a mixedreality display. Near-eye display 300 may include a frame 305 and adisplay 310. Display 310 may be configured to present content to a user.In some embodiments, display 310 may include display electronics and/ordisplay optics. For example, as described above with respect to near-eyedisplay 120 of FIG. 1 , display 310 may include an LCD display panel, anLED display panel, or an optical display panel (e.g., a waveguidedisplay assembly).

Near-eye display 300 may further include various sensors 350 a, 350 b,350 c, 350 d, and 350 e on or within frame 305. In some embodiments,sensors 350 a-350 e may include one or more depth sensors, motionsensors, position sensors, inertial sensors, or ambient light sensors.In some embodiments, sensors 350 a-350 e may include one or more imagesensors configured to generate image data representing different fieldsof views in different directions. In some embodiments, sensors 350 a-350e may be used as input devices to control or influence the displayedcontent of near-eye display 300, and/or to provide an interactiveVR/AR/MR experience to a user of near-eye display 300. In someembodiments, sensors 350 a-350 e may also be used for stereoscopicimaging.

In some embodiments, near-eye display 300 may further include one ormore illuminators 330 to project light into the physical environment.The projected light may be associated with different frequency bands(e.g., visible light, infra-red light, ultra-violet light, etc.), andmay serve various purposes. For example, illuminator(s) 330 may projectlight in a dark environment (or in an environment with low intensity ofinfra-red light, ultra-violet light, etc.) to assist sensors 350 a-350 ein capturing images of different objects within the dark environment. Insome embodiments, illuminator(s) 330 may be used to project certainlight patterns onto the objects within the environment. In someembodiments, illuminator(s) 330 may be used as locators, such aslocators 126 described above with respect to FIG. 1 .

In some embodiments, near-eye display 300 may also include ahigh-resolution camera 340. Camera 340 may capture images of thephysical environment in the field of view. The captured images may beprocessed, for example, by a virtual reality engine (e.g., artificialreality engine 116 of FIG. 1 ) to add virtual objects to the capturedimages or modify physical objects in the captured images, and theprocessed images may be displayed to the user by display 310 for AR orMR applications.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of an optical see-through augmentedreality system 400 including a waveguide display according to certainembodiments. Augmented reality system 400 may include a projector 410and a combiner 415. Projector 410 may include a light source or imagesource 412 and projector optics 414. In some embodiments, light sourceor image source 412 may include one or more micro-LED devices describedabove. In some embodiments, image source 412 may include a plurality ofpixels that displays virtual objects, such as an LCD display panel or anLED display panel. In some embodiments, image source 412 may include alight source that generates coherent or partially coherent light. Forexample, image source 412 may include a laser diode, a vertical cavitysurface emitting laser, an LED, and/or a micro-LED described above. Insome embodiments, image source 412 may include a plurality of lightsources (e.g., an array of micro-LEDs described above), each emitting amonochromatic image light corresponding to a primary color (e.g., red,green, or blue). In some embodiments, image source 412 may include threetwo-dimensional arrays of micro-LEDs, where each two-dimensional arrayof micro-LEDs may include micro-LEDs configured to emit light of aprimary color (e.g., red, green, or blue). In some embodiments, imagesource 412 may include an optical pattern generator, such as a spatiallight modulator. Projector optics 414 may include one or more opticalcomponents that can condition the light from image source 412, such asexpanding, collimating, scanning, or projecting light from image source412 to combiner 415. The one or more optical components may include, forexample, one or more lenses, liquid lenses, mirrors, apertures, and/orgratings. For example, in some embodiments, image source 412 may includeone or more one-dimensional arrays or elongated two-dimensional arraysof micro-LEDs, and projector optics 414 may include one or moreone-dimensional scanners (e.g., micro-mirrors or prisms) configured toscan the one-dimensional arrays or elongated two-dimensional arrays ofmicro-LEDs to generate image frames. In some embodiments, projectoroptics 414 may include a liquid lens (e.g., a liquid crystal lens) witha plurality of electrodes that allows scanning of the light from imagesource 412.

Combiner 415 may include an input coupler 430 for coupling light fromprojector 410 into a substrate 420 of combiner 415. Combiner 415 maytransmit at least 50% of light in a first wavelength range and reflectat least 25% of light in a second wavelength range. For example, thefirst wavelength range may be visible light from about 400 nm to about650 nm, and the second wavelength range may be in the infrared band, forexample, from about 800 nm to about 1000 nm. Input coupler 430 mayinclude a volume holographic grating, a diffractive optical element(DOE) (e.g., a surface-relief grating), a slanted surface of substrate420, or a refractive coupler (e.g., a wedge or a prism). For example,input coupler 430 may include a reflective volume Bragg grating or atransmissive volume Bragg grating. Input coupler 430 may have a couplingefficiency of greater than 30%, 50%, 75%, 90%, or higher for visiblelight. Light coupled into substrate 420 may propagate within substrate420 through, for example, total internal reflection (TIR). Substrate 420may be in the form of a lens of a pair of eyeglasses. Substrate 420 mayhave a flat or a curved surface, and may include one or more types ofdielectric materials, such as glass, quartz, plastic, polymer,poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), crystal, or ceramic. A thickness ofthe substrate may range from, for example, less than about 1 mm to about10 mm or more. Substrate 420 may be transparent to visible light.

Substrate 420 may include or may be coupled to a plurality of outputcouplers 440, each configured to extract at least a portion of the lightguided by and propagating within substrate 420 from substrate 420, anddirect extracted light 460 to an eyebox 495 where an eye 490 of the userof augmented reality system 400 may be located when augmented realitysystem 400 is in use. The plurality of output couplers 440 may replicatethe exit pupil to increase the size of eyebox 495 such that thedisplayed image is visible in a larger area. As input coupler 430,output couplers 440 may include grating couplers (e.g., volumeholographic gratings or surface-relief gratings), other diffractionoptical elements (DOEs), prisms, etc. For example, output couplers 440may include reflective volume Bragg gratings or transmissive volumeBragg gratings. Output couplers 440 may have different coupling (e.g.,diffraction) efficiencies at different locations. Substrate 420 may alsoallow light 450 from the environment in front of combiner 415 to passthrough with little or no loss. Output couplers 440 may also allow light450 to pass through with little loss. For example, in someimplementations, output couplers 440 may have a very low diffractionefficiency for light 450 such that light 450 may be refracted orotherwise pass through output couplers 440 with little loss, and thusmay have a higher intensity than extracted light 460. In someimplementations, output couplers 440 may have a high diffractionefficiency for light 450 and may diffract light 450 in certain desireddirections (i.e., diffraction angles) with little loss. As a result, theuser may be able to view combined images of the environment in front ofcombiner 415 and images of virtual objects projected by projector 410.

FIG. 5A illustrates an example of a near-eye display (NED) device 500including a waveguide display 530 according to certain embodiments. NEDdevice 500 may be an example of near-eye display 120, augmented realitysystem 400, or another type of display device. NED device 500 mayinclude a light source 510, projection optics 520, and waveguide display530. Light source 510 may include multiple panels of light emitters fordifferent colors, such as a panel of red light emitters 512, a panel ofgreen light emitters 514, and a panel of blue light emitters 516. Thered light emitters 512 are organized into an array; the green lightemitters 514 are organized into an array; and the blue light emitters516 are organized into an array. The dimensions and pitches of lightemitters in light source 510 may be small. For example, each lightemitter may have a diameter less than 2 μm (e.g., about 1.2 μm) and thepitch may be less than 2 μm (e.g., about 1.5 μm). As such, the number oflight emitters in each red light emitters 512, green light emitters 514,and blue light emitters 516 can be equal to or greater than the numberof pixels in a display image, such as 960×720, 1280×720, 1440×1080,1920×1080, 2160×1080, or 2560×1080 pixels. Thus, a display image may begenerated simultaneously by light source 510. A scanning element may notbe used in NED device 500.

Before reaching waveguide display 530, the light emitted by light source510 may be conditioned by projection optics 520, which may include alens array. Projection optics 520 may collimate or focus the lightemitted by light source 510 to waveguide display 530, which may includea coupler 532 for coupling the light emitted by light source 510 intowaveguide display 530. The light coupled into waveguide display 530 maypropagate within waveguide display 530 through, for example, totalinternal reflection as described above with respect to FIG. 4 . Coupler532 may also couple portions of the light propagating within waveguidedisplay 530 out of waveguide display 530 and towards user's eye 590.

FIG. 5B illustrates an example of a near-eye display (NED) device 550including a waveguide display 580 according to certain embodiments. Insome embodiments, NED device 550 may use a scanning mirror 570 toproject light from a light source 540 to an image field where a user'seye 590 may be located. NED device 550 may be an example of near-eyedisplay 120, augmented reality system 400, or another type of displaydevice. Light source 540 may include one or more rows or one or morecolumns of light emitters of different colors, such as multiple rows ofred light emitters 542, multiple rows of green light emitters 544, andmultiple rows of blue light emitters 546. For example, red lightemitters 542, green light emitters 544, and blue light emitters 546 mayeach include N rows, each row including, for example, 2560 lightemitters (pixels). The red light emitters 542 are organized into anarray; the green light emitters 544 are organized into an array; and theblue light emitters 546 are organized into an array. In someembodiments, light source 540 may include a single line of lightemitters for each color. In some embodiments, light source 540 mayinclude multiple columns of light emitters for each of red, green, andblue colors, where each column may include, for example, 1080 lightemitters. In some embodiments, the dimensions and/or pitches of thelight emitters in light source 540 may be relatively large (e.g., about3-5 μm) and thus light source 540 may not include sufficient lightemitters for simultaneously generating a full display image. Forexample, the number of light emitters for a single color may be fewerthan the number of pixels (e.g., 2560×1080 pixels) in a display image.The light emitted by light source 540 may be a set of collimated ordiverging beams of light.

Before reaching scanning mirror 570, the light emitted by light source540 may be conditioned by various optical devices, such as collimatinglenses or a freeform optical element 560. Freeform optical element 560may include, for example, a multi-facet prism or another light foldingelement that may direct the light emitted by light source 540 towardsscanning mirror 570, such as changing the propagation direction of thelight emitted by light source 540 by, for example, about 90° or larger.In some embodiments, freeform optical element 560 may be rotatable toscan the light. Scanning mirror 570 and/or freeform optical element 560may reflect and project the light emitted by light source 540 towaveguide display 580, which may include a coupler 582 for coupling thelight emitted by light source 540 into waveguide display 580. The lightcoupled into waveguide display 580 may propagate within waveguidedisplay 580 through, for example, total internal reflection as describedabove with respect to FIG. 4 . Coupler 582 may also couple portions ofthe light propagating within waveguide display 580 out of waveguidedisplay 580 and towards user's eye 590.

Scanning mirror 570 may include a microelectromechanical system (MEMS)mirror or any other suitable mirrors. Scanning mirror 570 may rotate toscan in one or two dimensions. As scanning mirror 570 rotates, the lightemitted by light source 540 may be directed to a different area ofwaveguide display 580 such that a full display image may be projectedonto waveguide display 580 and directed to user's eye 590 by waveguidedisplay 580 in each scanning cycle. For example, in embodiments wherelight source 540 includes light emitters for all pixels in one or morerows or columns, scanning mirror 570 may be rotated in the column or rowdirection (e.g., x or y direction) to scan an image. In embodimentswhere light source 540 includes light emitters for some but not allpixels in one or more rows or columns, scanning mirror 570 may berotated in both the row and column directions (e.g., both x and ydirections) to project a display image (e.g., using a raster-typescanning pattern).

NED device 550 may operate in predefined display periods. A displayperiod (e.g., display cycle) may refer to a duration of time in which afull image is scanned or projected. For example, a display period may bea reciprocal of the desired frame rate. In NED device 550 that includesscanning mirror 570, the display period may also be referred to as ascanning period or scanning cycle. The light generation by light source540 may be synchronized with the rotation of scanning mirror 570. Forexample, each scanning cycle may include multiple scanning steps, wherelight source 540 may generate a different light pattern in eachrespective scanning step.

In each scanning cycle, as scanning mirror 570 rotates, a display imagemay be projected onto waveguide display 580 and user's eye 590. Theactual color value and light intensity (e.g., brightness) of a givenpixel location of the display image may be an average of the light beamsof the three colors (e.g., red, green, and blue) illuminating the pixellocation during the scanning period. After completing a scanning period,scanning mirror 570 may revert back to the initial position to projectlight for the first few rows of the next display image or may rotate ina reverse direction or scan pattern to project light for the nextdisplay image, where a new set of driving signals may be fed to lightsource 540. The same process may be repeated as scanning mirror 570rotates in each scanning cycle. As such, different images may beprojected to user's eye 590 in different scanning cycles.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example of an image source assembly 610 in anear-eye display system 600 according to certain embodiments. Imagesource assembly 610 may include, for example, a display panel 640 thatmay generate display images to be projected to the user's eyes, and aprojector 650 that may project the display images generated by displaypanel 640 to a waveguide display as described above with respect toFIGS. 4-5B. Display panel 640 may include a light source 642 and adriver circuit 644 for light source 642. Light source 642 may include,for example, light source 510 or 540. Projector 650 may include, forexample, freeform optical element 560, scanning mirror 570, and/orprojection optics 520 described above. Near-eye display system 600 mayalso include a controller 620 that synchronously controls light source642 and projector 650 (e.g., scanning mirror 570). Image source assembly610 may generate and output an image light to a waveguide display (notshown in FIG. 6 ), such as waveguide display 530 or 580. As describedabove, the waveguide display may receive the image light at one or moreinput-coupling elements, and guide the received image light to one ormore output-coupling elements. The input and output coupling elementsmay include, for example, a diffraction grating, a holographic grating,a prism, or any combination thereof. The input-coupling element may bechosen such that total internal reflection occurs with the waveguidedisplay. The output-coupling element may couple portions of the totalinternally reflected image light out of the waveguide display.

As described above, light source 642 may include a plurality of lightemitters arranged in an array or a matrix. Each light emitter may emitmonochromatic light, such as red light, blue light, green light,infra-red light, and the like. While RGB colors are often discussed inthis disclosure, embodiments described herein are not limited to usingred, green, and blue as primary colors. Other colors can also be used asthe primary colors of near-eye display system 600. In some embodiments,a display panel in accordance with an embodiment may use more than threeprimary colors. Each pixel in light source 642 may include threesubpixels that include a red micro-LED, a green micro-LED, and a bluemicro-LED. A semiconductor LED generally includes an active lightemitting layer within multiple layers of semiconductor materials. Themultiple layers of semiconductor materials may include differentcompound materials or a same base material with different dopants and/ordifferent doping densities. For example, the multiple layers ofsemiconductor materials may include an n-type material layer, an activeregion that may include hetero-structures (e.g., one or more quantumwells), and a p-type material layer. The multiple layers ofsemiconductor materials may be grown on a surface of a substrate havinga certain orientation. In some embodiments, to increase light extractionefficiency, a mesa that includes at least some of the layers ofsemiconductor materials may be formed.

Controller 620 may control the image rendering operations of imagesource assembly 610, such as the operations of light source 642 and/orprojector 650. For example, controller 620 may determine instructionsfor image source assembly 610 to render one or more display images. Theinstructions may include display instructions and scanning instructions.In some embodiments, the display instructions may include an image file(e.g., a bitmap file). The display instructions may be received from,for example, a console, such as console 110 described above with respectto FIG. 1 . The scanning instructions may be used by image sourceassembly 610 to generate image light. The scanning instructions mayspecify, for example, a type of a source of image light (e.g.,monochromatic or polychromatic), a scanning rate, an orientation of ascanning apparatus, one or more illumination parameters, or anycombination thereof. Controller 620 may include a combination ofhardware, software, and/or firmware not shown here so as not to obscureother aspects of the present disclosure.

In some embodiments, controller 620 may be a graphics processing unit(GPU) of a display device. In other embodiments, controller 620 may beother kinds of processors. The operations performed by controller 620may include taking content for display and dividing the content intodiscrete sections. Controller 620 may provide to light source 642scanning instructions that include an address corresponding to anindividual source element of light source 642 and/or an electrical biasapplied to the individual source element. Controller 620 may instructlight source 642 to sequentially present the discrete sections usinglight emitters corresponding to one or more rows of pixels in an imageultimately displayed to the user. Controller 620 may also instructprojector 650 to perform different adjustments of the light. Forexample, controller 620 may control projector 650 to scan the discretesections to different areas of a coupling element of the waveguidedisplay (e.g., waveguide display 580) as described above with respect toFIG. 5B. As such, at the exit pupil of the waveguide display, eachdiscrete portion is presented in a different respective location. Whileeach discrete section is presented at a different respective time, thepresentation and scanning of the discrete sections occur fast enoughsuch that a user's eye may integrate the different sections into asingle image or series of images.

Image processor 630 may be a general-purpose processor and/or one ormore application-specific circuits that are dedicated to performing thefeatures described herein. In one embodiment, a general-purposeprocessor may be coupled to a memory to execute software instructionsthat cause the processor to perform certain processes described herein.In another embodiment, image processor 630 may be one or more circuitsthat are dedicated to performing certain features. While image processor630 in FIG. 6 is shown as a stand-alone unit that is separate fromcontroller 620 and driver circuit 644, image processor 630 may be asub-unit of controller 620 or driver circuit 644 in other embodiments.In other words, in those embodiments, controller 620 or driver circuit644 may perform various image processing functions of image processor630. Image processor 630 may also be referred to as an image processingcircuit.

In the example shown in FIG. 6 , light source 642 may be driven bydriver circuit 644, based on data or instructions (e.g., display andscanning instructions) sent from controller 620 or image processor 630.In one embodiment, driver circuit 644 may include a circuit panel thatconnects to and mechanically holds various light emitters of lightsource 642. Light source 642 may emit light in accordance with one ormore illumination parameters that are set by the controller 620 andpotentially adjusted by image processor 630 and driver circuit 644. Anillumination parameter may be used by light source 642 to generatelight. An illumination parameter may include, for example, sourcewavelength, pulse rate, pulse amplitude, beam type (continuous orpulsed), other parameter(s) that may affect the emitted light, or anycombination thereof. In some embodiments, the source light generated bylight source 642 may include multiple beams of red light, green light,and blue light, or any combination thereof.

Projector 650 may perform a set of optical functions, such as focusing,combining, conditioning, or scanning the image light generated by lightsource 642. In some embodiments, projector 650 may include a combiningassembly, a light conditioning assembly, or a scanning mirror assembly.Projector 650 may include one or more optical components that opticallyadjust and potentially re-direct the light from light source 642. Oneexample of the adjustment of light may include conditioning the light,such as expanding, collimating, correcting for one or more opticalerrors (e.g., field curvature, chromatic aberration, etc.), some otheradjustments of the light, or any combination thereof. The opticalcomponents of projector 650 may include, for example, lenses, mirrors,apertures, gratings, or any combination thereof.

Projector 650 may redirect image light via its one or more reflectiveand/or refractive portions so that the image light is projected atcertain orientations toward the waveguide display. The location wherethe image light is redirected toward the waveguide display may depend onspecific orientations of the one or more reflective and/or refractiveportions. In some embodiments, projector 650 includes a single scanningmirror that scans in at least two dimensions. In other embodiments,projector 650 may include a plurality of scanning mirrors that each scanin directions orthogonal to each other. Projector 650 may perform araster scan (horizontally or vertically), a bi-resonant scan, or anycombination thereof. In some embodiments, projector 650 may perform acontrolled vibration along the horizontal and/or vertical directionswith a specific frequency of oscillation to scan along two dimensionsand generate a two-dimensional projected image of the media presented touser's eyes. In other embodiments, projector 650 may include a lens orprism that may serve similar or the same function as one or morescanning mirrors. In some embodiments, image source assembly 610 may notinclude a projector, where the light emitted by light source 642 may bedirectly incident on the waveguide display.

In semiconductor LEDs, photons are usually generated at a certaininternal quantum efficiency through the recombination of electrons andholes within an active region (e.g., one or more semiconductor layers),where the internal quantum efficiency is the proportion of the radiativeelectron-hole recombination in the active region that emits photons. Thegenerated light may then be extracted from the LEDs in a particulardirection or within a particular solid angle. The ratio between thenumber of emitted photons extracted from an LED and the number ofelectrons passing through the LED is referred to as the external quantumefficiency, which describes how efficiently the LED converts injectedelectrons to photons that are extracted from the device.

The external quantum efficiency may be proportional to the injectionefficiency, the internal quantum efficiency, and the extractionefficiency. The injection efficiency refers to the proportion ofelectrons passing through the device that are injected into the activeregion. The extraction efficiency is the proportion of photons generatedin the active region that escape from the device. For LEDs, and inparticular, micro-LEDs with reduced physical dimensions, improving theinternal and external quantum efficiency and/or controlling the emissionspectrum may be challenging. In some embodiments, to increase the lightextraction efficiency, a mesa that includes at least some of the layersof semiconductor materials may be formed.

FIG. 7A illustrates an example of an LED 700 having a vertical mesastructure. LED 700 may be a light emitter in light source 510, 540, or642. LED 700 may be a micro-LED made of inorganic materials, such asmultiple layers of semiconductor materials. The layered semiconductorlight emitting device may include multiple layers of III-V semiconductormaterials. A III-V semiconductor material may include one or more GroupIII elements, such as aluminum (Al), gallium (Ga), or indium (In), incombination with a Group V element, such as nitrogen (N), phosphorus(P), arsenic (As), or antimony (Sb). When the Group V element of theIII-V semiconductor material includes nitrogen, the III-V semiconductormaterial is referred to as a III-nitride material. The layeredsemiconductor light emitting device may be manufactured by growingmultiple epitaxial layers on a substrate using techniques such asvapor-phase epitaxy (VPE), liquid-phase epitaxy (LPE), molecular beamepitaxy (MBE), or metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). Forexample, the layers of the semiconductor materials may be grownlayer-by-layer on a substrate with a certain crystal lattice orientation(e.g., polar, nonpolar, or semi-polar orientation), such as a GaN, GaAs,or GaP substrate, or a substrate including, but not limited to,sapphire, silicon carbide, silicon, zinc oxide, boron nitride, lithiumaluminate, lithium niobate, germanium, aluminum nitride, lithiumgallate, partially substituted spinels, or quaternary tetragonal oxidessharing the beta-LiAlO₂ structure, where the substrate may be cut in aspecific direction to expose a specific plane as the growth surface.

In the example shown in FIG. 7A, LED 700 may include a substrate 710,which may include, for example, a sapphire substrate or a GaN substrate.A semiconductor layer 720 may be grown on substrate 710. Semiconductorlayer 720 may include a III-V material, such as GaN, and may be p-doped(e.g., with Mg, Ca, Zn, or Be) or n-doped (e.g., with Si or Ge). One ormore active layers 730 may be grown on semiconductor layer 720 to forman active region. Active layer 730 may include III-V materials, such asone or more InGaN layers, one or more AlInGaP layers, and/or one or moreGaN layers, which may form one or more heterostructures, such as one ormore quantum wells or MQWs. A semiconductor layer 740 may be grown onactive layer 730. Semiconductor layer 740 may include a III-V material,such as GaN, and may be p-doped (e.g., with Mg, Ca, Zn, or Be) orn-doped (e.g., with Si or Ge). One of semiconductor layer 720 andsemiconductor layer 740 may be a p-type layer and the other one may bean n-type layer. Semiconductor layer 720 and semiconductor layer 740sandwich active layer 730 to form the light emitting region. Forexample, LED 700 may include a layer of InGaN situated between a layerof p-type GaN doped with magnesium and a layer of n-type GaN doped withsilicon or oxygen. In some embodiments, LED 700 may include a layer ofAlInGaP situated between a layer of p-type AlInGaP doped with zinc ormagnesium and a layer of n-type AlInGaP doped with selenium, silicon, ortellurium.

In some embodiments, an electron-blocking layer (EBL) (not shown in FIG.7A) may be grown to form a layer between active layer 730 and at leastone of semiconductor layer 720 or semiconductor layer 740. The EBL mayreduce the electron leakage current and improve the efficiency of theLED. In some embodiments, a heavily-doped semiconductor layer 750, suchas a P⁺ or P⁺⁺ semiconductor layer, may be formed on semiconductor layer740 and act as a contact layer for forming an ohmic contact and reducingthe contact impedance of the device. In some embodiments, a conductivelayer 760 may be formed on heavily-doped semiconductor layer 750.Conductive layer 760 may include, for example, an indium tin oxide (ITO)or Al/Ni/Au film. In one example, conductive layer 760 may include atransparent ITO layer.

To make contact with semiconductor layer 720 (e.g., an n-GaN layer) andto more efficiently extract light emitted by active layer 730 from LED700, the semiconductor material layers (including heavily-dopedsemiconductor layer 750, semiconductor layer 740, active layer 730, andsemiconductor layer 720) may be etched to expose semiconductor layer 720and to form a mesa structure that includes layers 720-760. The mesastructure may confine the carriers within the device. Etching the mesastructure may lead to the formation of mesa sidewalls 732 that may beorthogonal to the growth planes. A passivation layer 770 may be formedon sidewalls 732 of the mesa structure. Passivation layer 770 mayinclude an oxide layer, such as a SiO₂ layer, and may act as a reflectorto reflect emitted light out of LED 700. A contact layer 780, which mayinclude a metal layer, such as Al, Au, Ni, Ti, or any combinationthereof, may be formed on semiconductor layer 720 and may act as anelectrode of LED 700. In addition, another contact layer 790, such as anAl/Ni/Au metal layer, may be formed on conductive layer 760 and may actas another electrode of LED 700.

When a voltage signal is applied to contact layers 780 and 790,electrons and holes may recombine in active layer 730, where therecombination of electrons and holes may cause photon emission. Thewavelength and energy of the emitted photons may depend on the energybandgap between the valence band and the conduction band in active layer730. For example, InGaN active layers may emit green or blue light,AlGaN active layers may emit blue to ultraviolet light, while AlInGaPactive layers may emit red, orange, yellow, or green light. The emittedphotons may be reflected by passivation layer 770 and may exit LED 700from the top (e.g., conductive layer 760 and contact layer 790) orbottom (e.g., substrate 710).

In some embodiments, LED 700 may include one or more other components,such as a lens, on the light emission surface, such as substrate 710, tofocus or collimate the emitted light or couple the emitted light into awaveguide. In some embodiments, an LED may include a mesa of anothershape, such as planar, conical, semi-parabolic, or parabolic, and a basearea of the mesa may be circular, rectangular, hexagonal, or triangular.For example, the LED may include a mesa of a curved shape (e.g.,paraboloid shape) and/or a non-curved shape (e.g., conic shape). Themesa may be truncated or non-truncated.

FIG. 7B is a cross-sectional view of an example of an LED 705 having aparabolic mesa structure. Similar to LED 700, LED 705 may includemultiple layers of semiconductor materials, such as multiple layers ofIII-V semiconductor materials. The semiconductor material layers may beepitaxially grown on a substrate 715, such as a GaN substrate or asapphire substrate. For example, a semiconductor layer 725 may be grownon substrate 715. Semiconductor layer 725 may include a III-V material,such as GaN, and may be p-doped (e.g., with Mg, Ca, Zn, or Be) orn-doped (e.g., with Si or Ge). One or more active layer 735 may be grownon semiconductor layer 725. Active layer 735 may include III-Vmaterials, such as one or more InGaN layers, one or more AlInGaP layers,and/or one or more GaN layers, which may form one or moreheterostructures, such as one or more quantum wells. A semiconductorlayer 745 may be grown on active layer 735. Semiconductor layer 745 mayinclude a III-V material, such as GaN, and may be p-doped (e.g., withMg, Ca, Zn, or Be) or n-doped (e.g., with Si or Ge). One ofsemiconductor layer 725 and semiconductor layer 745 may be a p-typelayer and the other one may be an n-type layer.

To make contact with semiconductor layer 725 (e.g., an n-type GaN layer)and to more efficiently extract light emitted by active layer 735 fromLED 705, the semiconductor layers may be etched to expose semiconductorlayer 725 and to form a mesa structure that includes layers 725-745. Themesa structure may confine carriers within the injection area of thedevice. Etching the mesa structure may lead to the formation of mesaside walls (also referred to herein as facets) that may be non-parallelwith, or in some cases, orthogonal, to the growth planes associated withcrystalline growth of layers 725-745.

As shown in FIG. 7B, LED 705 may have a mesa structure that includes aflat top. A dielectric layer 775 (e.g., SiO₂ or SiNx) may be formed onthe facets of the mesa structure. In some embodiments, dielectric layer775 may include multiple layers of dielectric materials. In someembodiments, a metal layer 795 may be formed on dielectric layer 775.Metal layer 795 may include one or more metal or metal alloy materials,such as aluminum (Al), silver (Ag), gold (Au), platinum (Pt), titanium(Ti), copper (Cu), or any combination thereof. Dielectric layer 775 andmetal layer 795 may form a mesa reflector that can reflect light emittedby active layer 735 toward substrate 715. In some embodiments, the mesareflector may be parabolic-shaped to act as a parabolic reflector thatmay at least partially collimate the emitted light.

Electrical contact 765 and electrical contact 785 may be formed onsemiconductor layer 745 and semiconductor layer 725, respectively, toact as electrodes. Electrical contact 765 and electrical contact 785 mayeach include a conductive material, such as Al, Au, Pt, Ag, Ni, Ti, Cu,or any combination thereof (e.g., Ag/Pt/Au or Al/Ni/Au), and may act asthe electrodes of LED 705. In the example shown in FIG. 7B, electricalcontact 785 may be an n-contact, and electrical contact 765 may be ap-contact. Electrical contact 765 and semiconductor layer 745 (e.g., ap-type semiconductor layer) may form a back reflector for reflectinglight emitted by active layer 735 back toward substrate 715. In someembodiments, electrical contact 765 and metal layer 795 include samematerial(s) and can be formed using the same processes. In someembodiments, an additional conductive layer (not shown) may be includedas an intermediate conductive layer between the electrical contacts 765and 785 and the semiconductor layers.

When a voltage signal is applied across contacts 765 and 785, electronsand holes may recombine in active layer 735. The recombination ofelectrons and holes may cause photon emission, thus producing light. Thewavelength and energy of the emitted photons may depend on the energybandgap between the valence band and the conduction band in active layer735. For example, InGaN active layers may emit green or blue light,while AlInGaP active layers may emit red, orange, yellow, or greenlight. The emitted photons may propagate in many different directions,and may be reflected by the mesa reflector and/or the back reflector andmay exit LED 705, for example, from the bottom side (e.g., substrate715) shown in FIG. 7B. One or more other secondary optical components,such as a lens or a grating, may be formed on the light emissionsurface, such as substrate 715, to focus or collimate the emitted lightand/or couple the emitted light into a waveguide.

The quantum efficiency of LEDs may depend on the relative rates ofcompetitive radiative (light producing) recombination and non-radiative(lossy) recombination that occur in the active region of the LEDs.Non-radiative recombination processes in the active region may includeShockley-Read-Hall (SRH) recombination at defect sites, andelectron-electron-hole (eeh) and/or electron-hole-hole (ehh) Augerrecombination that involves three carriers. At the mesa sidewalls, thedefect density of the active region may be very high due to the abruptending of the lattice structure, chemical contamination, structuraldamages (e.g., due to dry etch), and the like. Therefore, thenon-radiative recombination rate may be high at the mesa sidewalls. Insmall LEDs, a larger proportion of the injected carriers may diffuse toregions near the mesa sidewalls and may be subject to a higher SRHrecombination rate. This may cause the peak efficiency of the LED todecrease and/or cause the peak efficiency operating current to increase.Increasing the current injection may cause the efficiencies of themicro-LEDs to drop due to the higher eeh or ehh Auger recombination rateat a higher current density.

For traditional, broad area LEDs used in lighting and backlightingapplications (e.g., with a lateral device area about 0.1 mm² to about 1mm²), the sidewalls are at the far ends of the devices. The devices canbe designed such that little or no current is injected into regionswithin a minority carrier diffusion length from the mesa sidewalls, andthus the sidewall surface area to volume ratio and the overall rate ofSRH recombination may be low. However, in micro-LEDs where the lateralsize (e.g., a diameter or side) of the mesa structure of each micro-LEDmay be comparable to the minority carrier diffusion length, a largerproportion of the active region may be within a distance less than theminority carrier diffusion length from the mesa sidewalls. The increasedsurface area to volume ratio may lead to a high carrier surfacerecombination rate, because a greater proportion of the total activeregion may fall within the minority carrier diffusion length from theLED sidewalls. Therefore, more injected carriers may be subject to thehigher SRH recombination rate. This can cause the leakage current of theLED to increase and the efficiency of the LED to decrease as the size ofthe LED decreases, and/or cause the peak efficiency operating current toincrease as the size of the LED decreases. For example, for a first LEDwith a 100 μm×100 μm×2 μm mesa, the side-wall surface area to volumeratio may be about 0.04. However, for a second LED with a 5 μm×5 μm×2 μmmesa, the side wall surface area to volume ratio may be about 0.8, whichis about 20 times higher than the first LED. Thus, with a similarsurface defect density, the SRH recombination coefficient of the secondLED may be about 20 times higher as well. Therefore, the efficiency ofthe second LED may be significantly lower than the first LED.

FIG. 8A illustrates an example of a micro-LED 800 with a mesa structure805. Micro-LED 800 may be an example of LED 700 or 705. Micro-LED 800may include an n-type semiconductor layer 820 epitaxially grown on asubstrate 810 that may be similar to substrate 710 or 715. In oneexample, substrate 810 may include a GaN substrate or a sapphiresubstrate with a buffer layer, and n-type semiconductor layer 820 mayinclude a GaN layer doped with, for example, Si or Ge. In anotherexample, substrate 810 may include a GaAs substrate. In the illustratedexample, n-type semiconductor layer 820 may be partially etched during amesa formation process after the epitaxially layers are grown, wheremesa structure 805 may include at least a portion 830 of n-typesemiconductor layer 820. One or more epitaxial layers, such as GaNbarrier layers and InGaN quantum well layers, or AlGaInP barrier layersand GaInP quantum well layers, may be grown on n-type semiconductorlayer 820 to form active layers 840 that includes one or more quantumwells. A p-type semiconductor layer 850 may be grown on active layers840. P-type semiconductor layer 850 may be doped with, for example, Mg,Ca, Zn, or Be. The layer stack may then be etched to form individualmesa structures 805 that each include a p-type semiconductor region, anactive region that includes active layers 840, and an n-typesemiconductor region. Mesa structure 805 may have a lateral lineardimension less than about 100 μm, less than about 50 μm, less than about20 μm, less than about 10 μm, less than about 5 μm, less than about 3μm, less than about 2 μm, or smaller. P-contacts 860 and n-contacts 870may be formed on the p regions and the exposed n regions of n-typesemiconductor layer 820. Each p-contact 860 may include, for example, ametal layer (e.g., Al, Au, Ni, Ti, or any combination thereof), or anindium tin oxide (ITO) and/or Al/Ni/Au film. In some embodiments,p-contact 860 may form a metal reflector to reflect emitted lighttowards n-type semiconductor layer 820. Each n-contact 870 may alsoinclude a layer of a metal material, such as Al, Au, Ni, Ti, or anycombination thereof.

Even though not shown in FIG. 8A, a passivation layer, such as an oxidelayer (e.g., a SiO₂ layer) or another dielectric layer, may be formed onsidewalls of mesa structure 805. The passivation layer may have a lowerrefractive index than the active region and may function as a reflector(e.g., due to total internal reflection) to reflect certain emittedlight out of micro-LED 800 as described above. As described above, insome embodiments, a metal layer may be formed on the passivation layerto form a sidewall metal reflector. Even though FIG. 8A shows a verticalmesa structure 805, micro-LED 800 may have a different mesa shape, suchas a conical, parabolic, inward-tilted, or outward-tilted mesa shape.

When a voltage or current signal is applied to p-contact 860 andn-contact 870, holes and electrons may be injected into active layers840 from p-type semiconductor layer 850 and portion 830 of n-typesemiconductor layer 820, respectively. The electrons and holes mayrecombine in the quantum wells of active layers 840, where therecombination of electrons and holes may cause photon emission. Theemitted photons may be reflected by the passivation layer and/or themetal reflector, and may exit micro-LED 800 from the bottom (e.g.,n-type semiconductor layer 820 side) or the top (e.g., p-contact 860side). At the sidewalls of the mesa structure, active layers 840 mayhave a higher density of defects, such as dislocations, dangling bonds,pores, grain boundaries, vacancies, inclusion of precipitates, and thelike, due to the abrupt ending of the lattice structure and the etching.Thus, holes and electrons injected into the quantum wells of activelayers 840 may recombine at the defect sites, without generatingphotons. As such, there may be a high leakage at the mesa side wall, andthe internal/external quantum efficiency of micro-LED 800 may be low, atleast due to the losses caused by the non-radiative surfacerecombination.

FIG. 8B illustrates a simplified energy band structure of the activelayers in the active region of the example of micro-LED 800 shown inFIG. 8A. A curve 880 in FIG. 8B shows the conduction band of the activeregion and a curve 890 shows the valence band of the active region. Theactive region of micro-LED 800 may include multiple quantum well layerseach sandwiched by two barrier layers. In the example shown in FIG. 8B,the conduction band and the valence band of a barrier layer are shown bya level 882 and a level 892, respectively, and the conduction band andthe valence band of a quantum well layer are shown by a level 884 and alevel 894, respectively. As illustrated, the quantum well layer may havea lower bandgap between the conduction band and the valence band thanthe barrier layer. Thus, carriers (electrons and holes) injected intothe active region may be confined by the energy barriers to the quantumwell layers, where the electrons and holes may recombine to emit light.The wavelength of the emitted light may depend on the bandgap of thelight emitting layers (e.g., the quantum well layers). For example, inan InGaN LED, the energy bandgap of the barrier layers (e.g., GaN layer)may be higher than the energy bandgap of the quantum well layers (e.g.,InGaN layers), which may decrease (and thus the wavelength of theemitted light may increase) as the proportion of Indium in InGaNincreases.

FIG. 9 includes a chart 900 illustrating lattice constants and bandgapenergy of examples of III-nitride semiconductor materials. Thehorizontal axis of chart 900 represents the lattice constants (inAngstroms) of different III-nitride semiconductor materials, such asInN, GaN, AlN, Ga_(x)In_(1-x)N, Al_(x)Ga_(1-x)N, and Al_(x)In_(1-x)N.The primary vertical axis of chart 900 represents the bandgap energy ofthe different III-nitride semiconductor materials, while the secondaryaxis of chart 900 represents the corresponding wavelengths of the lightemitted by the different III-nitride semiconductor materials.

As illustrated, Ga_(x)In_(1-x)N materials with different Indiumconcentration levels may have different lattice constants and bandgapenergy, and thus may emit light of different wavelengths or colors. AGa_(x)In_(1-x)N material with a higher proportion of Indium (smaller x)may have a lower bandgap energy. Therefore, the Ga_(x)In_(1-x)N materialwith a higher proportion of Indium may emit light with a longerwavelength. As such, to emit red light, a Ga_(x)In_(1-x)N material witha high proportion of Indium may be used.

As also illustrated in FIG. 9 , Ga_(x)In_(1-x)N material with a higherproportion of indium (smaller x) may also have a larger latticeconstant, and thus a larger lattice constant mismatch with the GaNmaterial that may be used as the barrier layer. The lattice constantmismatch may cause strain in the materials and may make it difficult togrow crystalline structures with high quality (e.g., low defectdensity). Thus, the growth of InGaN alloys may be challenging due to thetrade-off between the quality of the epitaxial layer and the amount ofindium incorporated into the alloy. The indium incorporation in InGaNmaterials may be enhanced by decreasing the growth temperatures, forexample, from about 850° C. to about 500° C. However, InGaN materialsmay need to be grown at a high temperature, for example, about 800° C.or higher, to achieve high crystalline quality. But a low amount ofindium may be incorporated into the InGaN materials at the hightemperature because of the high volatility of nitrogen over InN. Thesedifficulties may be caused by, for example, the difference ininter-atomic spacing or lattice constants between GaN and InN.

According to certain embodiments, to improve the quality of the InGaNalloys grown on a GaN layer, the GaN layer may be etched to becomeporous to relax the strain in the InGaN layers caused by the latticeconstant mismatch. The relaxation of strain may enable higher indiumincorporation. The GaN layer may be made porous through, for example, anelectrochemical (EC) etching or photo-electrochemical etching (PEC)process. For example, a process for forming porous gallium nitride mayinclude exposing heavily-doped gallium nitride to an electrolyte thatincludes an etchant, such as an acid or alkali solution (e.g., HNO₃, HF,HCl, H₂O₂, H₂SO₄, NaOH, or KOH). The heavily-doped gallium nitride mayhave an n-type (e.g., Si or Ge) doping density between, for example,about 5×10¹⁹ cm⁻³ and to about 2×10²⁰ cm⁻³. An electrical bias may thenbe applied between the etchant and the heavily-doped gallium nitride.The heavily-doped gallium nitride may be etched, for example, accordingto 2GaN+6 h⁺→2Ga³⁺+N₂, where the Ga³⁺ ions may dissolve in theelectrolyte.

FIG. 10A illustrates an example of a setup 1000 for fabricating poroussemiconductor material layers using electrochemical etching (EC)according to certain embodiments. Setup 1000 may include a container1010 that contains an electrolyte 1020, such as an acid or alkalisolution including, for example, Oxalic acid (C₂H₂O₄), HNO₃, HF, HCl,H₂O₂, H₂SO₄, NaOH, or KOH. A layer stack including a substrate 1030,heavily doped n⁺-GaN layers 1032, and non-intentionally doped GaN layers1034 may be placed in electrolyte 1020. An anode 1042 (e.g., a platinumlayer) may be formed on or attached to the layer stack, and a cathode1044 (such as a platinum foil) may be immersed in electrolyte 1020. A DCbias may be applied to the layer stack by a power supply 1040 throughanode 1042, cathode 1044, and electrolyte 1020. Thus, the EC etchingprocess may be carried out in a constant voltage mode (e.g., with a DCbias of a few volts), and may controlled by monitoring the etchingcurrent using a current meter 1050. The EC etching process can becarried at room temperature without using UV illumination.

The EC etching process may include the oxidation of n⁺-GaN layers 1032by the localized injection of holes due to the application of a positiveDC bias. The oxide layer may be locally dissolved in an acid-basedelectrolyte, thereby forming the mesoporous structure. The etching mayprimarily occur at the electrolyte-semiconductor interfaces. The etchingprocess may end when the current monitored by current meter 1050 dropsto a base line level, indicating that the n⁺-GaN layers have been etchedand transformed into mesoporous GaN layers. The density and size of theporosity may be controlled by, for example, varying the concentration ofthe solution, the applied current, the etching duration, the n-typedoping density, the thickness of the n⁺-GaN layers, and the like.

FIG. 10B includes a scanning electron microscopy (SEM) image 1002 of anexample of a layer stack including porous GaN layers after the ECetching process described above according to certain embodiments. Thelayer stack may include n⁺-GaN layers 1032 and non-intentionally dopedGaN layers 1034 as described above. The cross-sectional SEM image 1002shows the morphology of the porous n⁺-GaN layer 1032 after the ECetching process. SEM image 1002 shows that the porosification processcan proceed uniformly across the entire area immersed in the etchingsolution and the etched layer morphology is mesoporous. SEM image 1002also shows that only n⁺-GaN layers 1032 are selectively etched andtransformed into mesoporous layers, while non-intentionally doped GaNlayers 1034 may stay approximately intact during the electrochemicaletching.

FIG. 10C includes a chart 1004 illustrating an example of redshift of anexample of a quantum well grown on a porous GaN layer according tocertain embodiments. In FIG. 10C, a curve 1060 shows the emissionspectrum of an InGaN quantum well grown on a GaN layer, where thecentral wavelength of the emission spectrum may be about 500 nm. A curve1062 in FIG. 10C shows the emission spectrum of an InGaN quantum wellgrown on a porous GaN layer, where the central wavelength of theemission spectrum may be close to 550 nm. With a higher porosity of theporous GaN layer, more indium may be incorporated into the InGaN quantumwell grown on the porous GaN layer, and thus the central wavelength ofthe emission spectrum may be further shifted towards the longerwavelength.

GaN materials may have a much lower surface recombination velocity(e.g., less than about 0.5×10⁵ cm/s) than phosphide semiconductormaterials such as AlGaInP material (e.g., with a surface recombinationvelocity about 10⁶ cm/s). In addition, nitride LEDs can operate atnon-equilibrium carrier concentrations much higher than phosphide LEDs,which may result in considerably shorter carrier lifetime in nitrideLEDs. Therefore, the carrier diffusion lengths in the active regions ofIII-nitride LEDs may be considerably shorter than the carrier diffusionlengths in phosphide LEDs. As such, III-nitride LEDs, such as InGaNmicro-LEDs, may have both lower surface recombination velocities andshorter carrier diffusion lengths, and thus may have much lower surfacerecombination and efficiency reduction than phosphide LEDs, such asAlGaInP-based red micro-LEDs. For at least these reasons, InGaN redmicro-LEDs (e.g., grown on porous GaN templates) may have higherefficiencies than phosphide LEDs, especially for devices with lateralsizes less than about 20 μm, such as less than about 10 μm, less thanabout 5 μm, or less than about 3 μm.

FIGS. 11A-11E illustrate an example of a red micro-LED device fabricatedon a porous GaN layer and an example of a method of fabricating the redmicro-LED according to certain embodiments. FIG. 11A shows a layer stack1100 including a substrate 1110 and multiple epitaxial layers grown onsubstrate 1110. Substrate 1110 may be a substantially planar substrate.Substrate 1110 may have an in-plane lattice constant that is close tothe in-plane lattice constants of the epitaxial layers to be grown onthe substrate, in order to reduce the lattice mismatch. For example, asdescribed above, substrate 1110 may be a sapphire substrate or a siliconsubstrate. In the illustrated example, a buffer layer 1120 may be formedon substrate 1110 to provide a substrate surface suitable for theformation of III-nitride layers. In one example, substrate 1110 andbuffer layer 1120 may be configured such that a (0001) crystal plane ofan epitaxial layer grown on the substrate may be aligned with the broadsurface of substrate 1110. As such, the epitaxial layer may have a(0001) crystal plane orientation. As illustrated in FIG. 11A, an n-GaNlayer 1130 may be epitaxially grown on buffer layer 1120, using anysuitable process such as an MOCVD process or an MBE process describedabove. In the illustrated example, n-GaN layer 1130 may have an n-doping(e.g., Si or Ge doping) density about 5×10¹⁸ cm⁻³.

An n⁺-GaN layer 1140 may then be epitaxially grown on n-GaN layer 1130.The n⁺-GaN layer 1140 may be formed using any suitable process, such asa MOCVD process or a MBE processes. The n⁺-GaN layer 1140 may have adoping density (i.e., donor density due to the n-doping) greater thanthe donor density of n-GaN layer 1130. In some embodiments, the donordensity of n⁺-GaN layer 1140 may be greater than about 1×10¹⁹ cm⁻³,greater than about 3×10¹⁹ cm⁻³, greater than about 5×10¹⁹ cm⁻³, greaterthan about 7×10¹⁹ cm⁻³, or greater than about 1×10²⁰ cm⁻³. In theillustrated example, n⁺-GaN layer 1140 may have a doping density greaterthan about 5×10¹⁹ cm⁻³. The n⁺-GaN layer 1140 may include any suitabledonor dopants, such as Si and/or Ge. The n⁺-GaN layer 1140 is providedwith a relatively high donor density in order to allow for targetedformation of pores in the porosity treatment process described below. Insome embodiments, n⁺-GaN layer 1140 may have a thickness in thedirection normal to the substrate of at least 50 nm, such as 100 nm orhigher. In some embodiments, n⁺-GaN layer 1140 may have a thickness lessthan about 2 μm.

Following the formation of n⁺-GaN layer 1140, an intrinsic InGaN layer1150 may be epitaxially grown on a major surface of n⁺-GaN layer 1140.An in-plane lattice constant of an unstrained thin film having thecomposition of intrinsic InGaN layer 1150 may be greater than anin-plane lattice constant of an unstrained thin film having thecomposition of n⁺-GaN layer 1140. As such, the difference in compositionand lattice constant between n⁺-GaN layer 1140 and intrinsic InGaN layer1150 may result in compressive strain in intrinsic InGaN layer 1150. Inthe illustrated example, intrinsic InGaN layer 1150 may includeIn_(x)Ga_(1-x)N, where 0<X≤1. In some embodiments, intrinsic InGaN layer1150 may include In_(x)Ga_(1-x)N with 0.03<X≤0.2. The indium content ofintrinsic InGaN layer 1150 may be selected to provide an mesa surfacewith a desired in-plane lattice constant for growing active layers.Intrinsic InGaN layer 1150 may be formed without any intentional doping.Intrinsic InGaN layer 1150 may have a thickness of, for example, equalto or greater than about 50 nm but less than 10 μm, such as about 100 nmor about 1 μm.

FIG. 11B shows that, after the formation of intrinsic InGaN layer 1150,n⁺-GaN layer 1140 may be subjected to a porosity treatment process(e.g., an electrochemical etching process) as described above toincrease an areal porosity of n⁺-GaN layer 1140 to at least 15%. In someembodiments, layer stack 1100 may be etched to form trenches or mesastructures in layer stack 1100 such that n⁺-GaN layer 1140 may beaccessible to the electrolyte and there may be room for intrinsic InGaNlayer 1150 to relax (e.g., expand). During the electrochemical etching,n⁺-GaN layer 1140, which may have a donor density greater than 5×10¹⁸cm⁻³, may be subjected to the porosity treatment to increase the arealporosity. As described above, the high donor density of n⁺-GaN layer1140 allows the porosity treatment process to selectively increase theporosity of n⁺-GaN layer 1140.

The porosity treatment may include subjecting layer stack 1100 to anelectrochemical etching process. The electrochemical etching process mayinclude submerging the monolithic layer stack 1100 in a bath of, forexample, oxalic acid. Electrical connections may be made between thebath of oxalic acid and layer stack 1100. An electric current may passbetween the electrical contacts, the oxalic acid bath, and the layerstack 1100, in order to electrochemically form pores within n⁺-GaN layer1140. In some embodiments, the oxalic acid bath may include an oxalicacid solution having a concentration of between 0.03M and 0.3M. In otherembodiments, the oxalic acid bath may be substituted by otherelectrolytes, such as KOH or HCl. The level of electrical bias appliedto the electrochemical etching process may depend on the electrochemicalsolution used and the relative dimensions of the bath and layer stack1100. The electrochemical etching process may stop when the donorconcentration of n⁺-GaN layer 1140 is close to the donor concentrationof n-GaN layer 1130 or after a certain time (e.g., about 30 minutes).

The porosity treatment process results in the formation, or an increasein the size of, pores present in n⁺-GaN layer 1140 to form a porous GaNlayer 1142. The porosity of porous GaN layer 1142 may be characterizedby an areal porosity, which is the area fraction of pores present in across-section of the material (e.g., porous GaN layer 1142). In someembodiments, porous GaN layer 1142 may have an areal porosity of atleast 15%. In some embodiments, porous GaN layer 1142 may have an arealporosity of at least 30%, at least 50%, at least 70%, or higher.Following the porosity treatment process, layer stack 10 may besubjected to a heat treatment process in order to relax intrinsic InGaNlayer 1150.

FIG. 11C illustrates that the forming of porous GaN layer 1142 with ahigh porosity causes intrinsic InGaN layer 1150 to strain-relax to agreater degree during a subsequent thermal treatment process to become arelaxed InGaN layer 1152. For example, the intrinsic InGaN layer 1150may expand by about 1% to about 2%. Thus, after the porosity treatmentprocess and the thermal treatment process, layer stack 1100 may includen-GaN layer 1130, porous GaN layer 1142, and relaxed InGaN layer 1152formed on buffer layer 1120 and substrate 1110. Layer stack 1100 may beused as a template or precursor for growing micro-LED devices. In someembodiments as shown in FIG. 11C, layer stack 1100, more specifically,n-GaN layer 1130, porous GaN layer 1142, and relaxed InGaN layer 1152,may be selectively etched to form individual mesa structures. Forexample, a masking layer may be selectively formed on the top surface oflayer stack 10 to selectively etch layer stack 1100 to form mesastructures with desired sizes and pitches.

A growth mask layer may then be formed on sidewalls of the mesastructures formed in layer stack 1100 to prevent the growth on thesidewalls of the mesa structures in the subsequent epitaxial growthsteps for growing the red micro-LED layers. The growth mask layer mayinclude, for example, a dielectric layer, such as a SiO₂ layer. Thegrowth mask layer may include apertures aligned with the top surface ofeach mesa structure. As such, the growth mask layer may cover thesidewall surfaces of each mesa structure, but may not cover the topsurface of each mesa structure. Therefore, the growth mask layer mayrestrict the growth of the red micro-LED layers to the exposed topsurface of each mesa structure. The growth mask layer may be formed byconformingly depositing the dielectric layer on surface of the mesastructures and then selectively etching the dielectric layer on the topsurface of each mesa structure, or may be formed by forming a mask layeron the top surface of each mesa structure and depositing the dielectriclayer, where the mask layer may block the deposition of dielectric layeron the top surface of each mesa structure and may be removed after thedeposition to expose the top surface.

FIG. 11D shows a growth mask layer 1160 formed on mesa sidewalls andregions between the mesa structures. Growth mask layer 1160 may beformed as described above. The top surface of layer stack 1100, morespecifically, the top surface of relaxed InGaN layer 1152, may beexposed to regrow red micro-LED layers thereon. Growth mask layer 1160may include, for example, SiO₂, SiN, or any other suitable maskingmaterial such as a dielectric material. In the illustrated example,growth mask layer 1160 may include SiO₂, and may be formed on thesidewall surfaces of n-GaN layer 1130, porous GaN layer 1142, andrelaxed InGaN layer 1152. Growth mask layer 1160 may have any desiredthickness. In some embodiments, growth mask layer 1160 may have athickness greater than about 50 nm and lower than about 500 nm in asurface normal direction of mesa sidewall surfaces.

After the formation of growth mask layer 1160, active layers of redmicro-LEDs may be formed on the regrowth surface of layer stack 1100,such as the exposed top surface of each mesa structure. Due to thegrowth mask layer 1160, the regrowth may be restricted to the topsurface of each mesa structure.

FIG. 11E shows that a monolithic active region 1170 is formed on the topsurface of relaxed InGaN layer 1152 of each mesa structure. Asillustrated, monolithic active region 1170 cover the top surface of eachmesa structure. As described above, monolithic active region 1170 mayinclude a plurality of layers, such as one or more barrier layers andone or more quantum well layers. Each layer of monolithic active region1170 may include a III-nitride material, such as AlInGaN, AlGaN, InGaN,or GaN.

It is noted that, even though the mesa structures shown in FIGS. 11C-11Ehave a substantially vertical shape, the mesa structures may have othershapes, such as a parabolic shape, a conic shape, an inward-tiltedshape, an outward-tilted shape, or the like.

As illustrated in FIG. 11E, the micro-LED devices formed using theprocesses described above may have sidewall growth in monolithic activeregion 1170, where the sidewall overgrowth region 1172 may have anundesired crystalline orientation and a high defect density, and maydraw high leakage as described above. In addition, the drive current mayneed to pass through relaxed InGaN layer 1152, porous GaN layer 1142,and n-GaN layer 1130, which may be connected to an n-contact. Porous GaNlayer 1142 may have a high resistance, and thus may significantly reducethe voltage and/or current applied to the active regions and theefficiency of the micro-LEDs.

According to certain embodiments, a red micro-LED array may include aporous GaN layer that has a porosity greater than, for example, about50% or about 70%, such that an InGaN layer (e.g., functioning as abuffer layer) on the porous GaN layer may be strain-relaxed. As aresult, high-temperature epitaxial growth can be performed to growhigh-quality active layers (e.g., InGaN quantum well layers) on theporous GaN layer and the relaxed InGaN layer, while incorporating moreindium into the InGaN layers during the high-temperature epitaxialgrowth. Therefore, high quality (e.g., low strain and low defectdensity) InGaN layers with high indium concentration may be grown on theporous GaN layer and the relaxed InGaN layer, and thus a large red shiftof the wavelength of the emitted light into the red color region and ahigh quantum efficiency may be achieved. Furthermore, the current pathbetween the n-contact and the active region is made to bypass thehigh-resistance porous GaN layer, and thus a low resistance path betweenthe n-contact and the active region may be created in each micro-LED inthe micro-LED array. In addition, the sidewall overgrowth regions at thesidewalls of the active region that have more defects and undesiredcrystalline orientations and thus can cause high leakage may be etchedaway in the processes disclosed herein. Therefore, the leakage at themesa sidewalls may be reduced and the efficiency of the micro-LEDs maybe improved.

According to one example of the processes disclosed herein, a redmicro-LED array may be fabricated using three mesa etching steps. In thefirst mesa etching step, a layer stack (e.g., layer stack 1100) thatincludes an n-GaN layer (e.g., n-GaN layer 1130), a porous GaN layer(e.g., porous GaN layer 1142), and a relaxed InGaN layer (e.g., relaxedInGaN layer 1152) grown on a substrate may be etched to form large mesastructures. Each large mesa structure (also referred to herein asprecursor mesa structure) may have a lateral dimension larger than thelateral dimension of an individual micro-LED to be formed. For example,each large mesa structure may be used to form multiple micro-LEDs, suchas 4, 6, 8, 9, or more micro-LEDs. The formation of the large mesastructures may create space for InGaN layer relaxation and expansion toavoid bowing and subsequent buckling of the InGaN layer during therelaxation in a thermal treatment process. The large mesa structureswith the relaxed InGaN layer at the growth surface may be used to regrowthe active regions of the micro-LEDs, where the active regions grown onthe large mesa structures may have a high indium concentration in theInGaN quantum well layers that may also have a low strain and a lowdefect density. The active regions may include sidewall overgrowthregions that may cause high leakage as described above. A second mesaetching step may be performed to remove the sidewall overgrowth regions.The second mesa etching step may also etch the large mesa structuresincluding the overgrown active regions (and a p-contact layer) intoindividual mesa structures (also referred to herein as pixel mesastructures) for individual micro-LEDs. A dielectric layer may then beformed on the sidewalls of the active region (and sidewalls of thep-contact layer) of each pixel mesa structure. A third mesa etching stepmay include self-aligned etching of the pixel mesa structures down tothe n-GaN layer. An n-contact layer may then be formed on the sidewallsof etched pixel mesa structure, where the n-contact layer may inphysical contact with the relaxed InGaN layer, thereby bypassing thehigh-resistance porous GaN layer and forming a low-resistance currentpath between the n-contact layer and the active region in eachmicro-LED. More details of the structures of the micro-LEDs and themethod of forming the micro-LEDs according to certain embodiments aredescribed below.

FIGS. 12A-12H illustrate an example of a method of fabricating redmicro-LEDs on a porous GaN layer according to certain embodiments. FIG.12A shows the layer stack of a mesa structure 1200. FIG. 12B shows theside view and the top view of mesa structure 1200. Mesa structure 1200may be larger than the structure shown in FIG. 11D and may be used toform one or more smaller mesa structures for one or more micro-LEDs.Thus, mesa structure 1200 may be referred to herein as a precursor mesastructure, while the smaller mesa structure for a micro-LED may bereferred to herein as pixel mesa structure. Mesa structure 1200 mayinclude a substrate 1210, a buffer layer 1220, an n-GaN layer 1230, aporous GaN layer 1242, a relaxed InGaN layer 1252, and a dielectriclayer 1260, which may be similar to substrate 1110, buffer layer 1120,n-GaN layer 1130, porous GaN layer 1142, relaxed InGaN layer 1152, andgrowth mask layer 1160, respectively, and may be formed by a processsimilar to the process described above with respect to FIGS. 11A-11D.For example, mesa structure 1200 may be formed by growing epitaxiallayers on buffer layer 1220 on substrate 1210 (e.g., a sapphire wafer),forming porous GaN layer 1242 before or after a first mesa etchingprocess that form large mesa structures, and forming dielectric layer1260 on sidewalls of the large mesa structure. However, compared withthe structure shown in FIG. 11D, mesa structure 1200 may have a sizethat is larger than a micro-LED to be fabricated. For example, as shownby the top view shown in FIG. 12B, mesa structure 1200 may have arectangular shape or a square shape, and may have an area that may beused to make 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, or more micro-LEDs, such as an array ofmicro-LEDs that includes hundreds or thousands of micro-LEDs.

FIG. 12C shows the layer stack of a mesa structure 1202 that includes anactive region 1270 formed on mesa structure 1200. FIG. 12D shows theside view and the top view of mesa structure 1202. Mesa structure 1202may be similar to but may be larger than the structure shown in FIG.11E, and may be formed by a process similar to the process describedabove with respect to FIG. 11A-11E. Compared with the structure shown inFIG. 11D, mesa structure 1202 may have a size that is larger than amicro-LED to be fabricated. For example, as shown by the top view shownin FIG. 12B, mesa structure 1200 may have a rectangular shape or asquare shape, and may have an area that may be used to make 2, 4, 6, 8,9, or more micro-LEDs, such as an array of micro-LEDs that includeshundreds or thousands of micro-LEDs. As shown in FIG. 12C, active region1270 regrown on mesa structure 1200 that includes porous GaN layer 1242and relaxed InGaN layer 1252 may have sidewall overgrowth regions 1272that may have a high defect density and certain semi-polar latticeorientations.

FIG. 12E shows multiple individual mesa structures 1204 formed in mesastructure 1202 described above. FIG. 12F shows the side view and the topview of individual mesa structures 1204 formed in mesa structure 1202.In the example shown in FIG. 12E, each individual mesa structure 1204(also referred to as a pixel mesa structure) may also include ap-contact layer 1280, which may be formed (e.g., deposited) on activeregion 1270 of mesa structure 1202 after the growth of active region1270 on mesa structure 1200. Each mesa structure 1204 may be used tofabricate one micro-LED. Individual mesa structures 1204 may be formedby selectively etching mesa structure 1202 in a second mesa etchingprocess using a patterned etch mask layer 1290 to remove portions ofmesa structure 1202. For example, as shown in FIG. 12F, a mesa structure1202 may be etched to remove the sidewall overgrowth regions 1272 at thesidewalls of mesa structure 1202 and certain regions within mesastructure 1202 to form four mesa structures 1204 that may be arranged ina 2×2 array. In the example shown in FIG. 12E, each individual mesastructure 1204 may also include a p-contact layer 1280, but does nothave the n-contact.

FIG. 12G shows multiple micro-LEDs 1206 formed in mesa structure 1202described above. FIG. 12H shows the side view and the top view ofmicro-LEDs 1206 formed in mesa structure 1202. Each individual micro-LED1206 may be formed from a mesa structure 1204. For example, a dielectriclayer 1292 may be deposited on the surfaces of mesa structures 1204, andportions of dielectric layer 1292 on top of mesa structures 1204 may beetched away. A third mesa etching step may be performed using thepatterned etch mask layer 1290 to etch through porous GaN layer 1242 andn-GaN layer 1230 to form individual mesa structures for individualmicro-LEDs. An n-contact metal layer 1294 may be formed on sidewalls ofthe mesa structures and the regions between the mesa structures to formindividual micro-LEDs 1206. Dielectric layer 1292 may isolate n-contactmetal layer 1294 from p-contact layer 1280 and active region 1270.

As shown in FIG. 12G, each micro-LED 1206 may not include the sidewallovergrowth region 1272 described above. In addition, n-contact metallayer 1294 may provide a low resistance current path to active region1270 by making sidewall contacts with relaxed InGaN layer 1252 that isnext to active region 1270. Thus, little or no current may pass throughthe high resistance porous GaN layer 1242. It is noted that, even thoughthe mesa structures shown in FIGS. 12A-12H have a substantially verticalshape, the mesa structures may have other shapes, such as a parabolicshape, a conic shape, an inward-tilted shape, an outward-tilted shape,or the like.

FIGS. 13A-13P illustrate more details of the example of the method offabricating red micro-LEDs on a porous GaN layer shown in FIGS. 12A-12Haccording to certain embodiments. FIG. 13A shows a layer stack 1300including a substrate 1310 and multiple epitaxial layers grown onsubstrate 1310. As substrate 1110, substrate 1310 may be a substantiallyplanar substrate and may have an in-plane lattice constant that may beclose to the in-plane lattice constants of the epitaxial layers to begrown, in order to reduce the lattice mismatch. For example, asdescribed above, substrate 1310 may be a sapphire substrate or a siliconsubstrate. In the illustrated example, a buffer layer 1320 may be formedon substrate 1310 to provide a substrate surface suitable for theformation of III-nitride layers. As illustrated in FIG. 13A, an n-GaNlayer 1330 may be epitaxially grown on buffer layer 1320, using anysuitable process such as an MOCVD process or an MBE process as describedabove. In the illustrated example, n-GaN layer 1330 may have an n-doping(e.g., Si or Ge doping) density about 5×10¹⁸ cm⁻³.

An n⁺-GaN layer 1340 may then be epitaxially grown on n-GaN layer 1330.The n⁺-GaN layer 1340 may be formed using any suitable process, such asan MOCVD process or an MBE processes. The n⁺-GaN layer 1340 may have adoping density greater than the doping density of n-GaN layer 1330. Insome embodiments, the donor density of n⁺-GaN layer 1340 may be greaterthan about 1×10¹⁹ cm⁻³, greater than about 3×10¹⁹ cm⁻³, greater thanabout 5×10¹⁹ cm⁻³, greater than about 7×10¹⁹ cm⁻³, or greater than about1×10²⁰ cm⁻³. In the illustrated example, n⁺-GaN layer 1340 may have adoping density greater than about 5×10¹⁹ cm⁻³. The n⁺-GaN layer 1340 mayinclude any suitable donor dopants, such as Si and/or Ge. The n⁺-GaNlayer 1340 is provided with a relatively high donor density in order toallow for targeted formation of pores in the porosity treatment stepdescribed below. In some embodiments, n⁺-GaN layer 1340 may have athickness in the direction normal to the substrate of at least 50 nm orat least 100 nm. In some embodiments, n⁺-GaN layer 1340 may have athickness of less than about 2 μm. The thickness of n⁺-GaN layer 1340may affect the porosity of the porous GaN layer formed after theelectrochemical etching.

Following the formation of n⁺-GaN layer 1340, an intrinsic InGaN layer1350 may be epitaxially grown on n⁺-GaN layer 1340. The difference incomposition between n⁺-GaN layer 1340 and intrinsic InGaN layer 1350 mayresult in compressive strain in intrinsic InGaN layer 1350. In theillustrated example, intrinsic InGaN layer 1350 may includeIn_(x)Ga_(1-x)N, where 0<x≤1. In some embodiments, intrinsic InGaN layer1350 may include In_(x)Ga_(1-x)N with 0.03<x≤0.2. The indium content ofintrinsic InGaN layer 1350 may be selected to provide an mesa surfacewith a desired in-plane lattice constant. Intrinsic InGaN layer 1350 maybe formed without any intentional doping. Intrinsic InGaN layer 1350 mayhave a thickness of, for example, greater than about 50 nm, 100 nm, or200 nm but less than 10 μm, such as about 1 μm.

FIG. 13B shows that, after the formation of intrinsic InGaN layer 1350,n⁺-GaN layer 1340 may be subjected to a porosity treatment process(e.g., an electrochemical etching process) in order to increase an arealporosity of n⁺-GaN layer 1340 to at least 15%, such as at least 30%, atleast 50%, at least 70%, or higher. In some embodiments, layer stack1300 may be etched to form trenches or mesa structures in layer stack1300 such that n⁺-GaN layer 1340 may be accessible to the electrolyteand there may be room for intrinsic InGaN layer 1350 to relax (e.g.,expand). During the electrochemical etching, n⁺-GaN layer 1340, whichmay have a donor density greater than 5×10¹⁸ cm⁻³, may be subjected tothe porosity treatment to increase an areal porosity of the secondsemiconducting layer. As described above, the high donor density ofn⁺-GaN layer 1340 allows the porosity treatment process to selectivelyincrease the porosity of n⁺-GaN layer 1340.

As describe above with respect to, for example, FIG. 10A, the porositytreatment may include subjecting layer stack 1300 to an electrochemicaletching process. The electrochemical etching process may includesubmerging layer stack 1300 in a bath of, for example, oxalic acid.Electrical connections may be made between the bath of oxalic acid andlayer stack 1300. An electric current may pass between the electricalcontact in the oxalic acid bath and the electrical contact on layerstack 1300 in order to electrochemically form pores within n⁺-GaN layer1340. In some embodiments, the oxalic acid bath may include an oxalicacid solution having a concentration of between 0.03M and 0.3M. In otherembodiments, the oxalic acid bath may be substituted by otherelectrolytes, such as KOH or HCl. The level of electrical bias appliedto the electrochemical process may depend on the electrochemicalsolution used and the relative dimensions of the bath and layer stack1300.

The porosity treatment process results in the formation, or an increasein the size of, pores present in n⁺-GaN layer 1340 to form a porous GaNlayer 1342. In some embodiments, porous GaN layer 1342 may have an arealporosity of at least 15%. In some embodiments, porous GaN layer 1342 mayhave an areal porosity of at least 30%, at least 50%, or at least 70%.Following the porosity treatment process, layer stack 1300 may besubjected to a heat treatment process in order to strain-relax intrinsicInGaN layer 1350.

FIG. 13C shows that the forming of porous GaN layer 1342 with a highporosity may cause intrinsic InGaN layer 1350 to strain-relax to agreater degree during a subsequent thermal treatment process to become arelaxed InGaN layer 1352. Thus, after the thermal treatment andrelaxation, layer stack 1300 may include n-GaN layer 1330, porous GaNlayer 1342, and relaxed InGaN layer 1352 formed on buffer layer 1320 andsubstrate 1310. Layer stack 1300 may be used as a template or precursorfor growing micro-LED devices. In some embodiments as shown in FIG. 13C,layer stack 1300, more specifically, n-GaN layer 1330, porous GaN layer1342, and relaxed InGaN layer 1352, may be selectively etched to formlarge mesa structures (also referred to as precursor mesa structures) ina first mesa etching process. For example, a masking layer may beselectively formed on the top surface of layer stack 1300 to selectivelyetch layer stack 1300 to form large mesa structures with desired sizesand pitches. As described above with respect to FIG. 12A, each largemesa structure may have a size that is larger than a micro-LED to befabricated. For example, each large mesa structure may have arectangular shape or a square shape, and may have an area that may beused to make 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, or more micro-LEDs, such as an array ofmicro-LEDs that includes hundreds or thousands of micro-LEDs.

FIG. 13D shows a growth mask layer 1360 formed on mesa sidewalls andregions between the large mesa structures. Growth mask layer 1360 may beformed as described above, and the top surface of layer stack 1300, morespecifically, the top surface of relaxed InGaN layer 1352, may beexposed to regrow red micro-LED layers thereon. Growth mask layer 1360may include, for example, SiO₂, SiN, or any other suitable growthmasking material. In the illustrated example, growth mask layer 1360 mayinclude SiO₂, and may be formed on the sidewall surfaces of n-GaN layer1330, porous GaN layer 1342, and relaxed InGaN layer 1352. Growth masklayer 1360 may have any desired thickness. In some embodiments, growthmask layer 1360 may have a thickness greater than about 50 nm and lowerthan about 500 nm in a surface normal direction of the mesa sidewallsurfaces. Growth mask layer 1360 may be formed by, for example,conformingly depositing a dielectric layer on surfaces of the large mesastructures and then selectively etching the dielectric layer on the topsurface of each large mesa structure. After the formation of growth masklayer 1360, active layers of red micro-LEDs may be formed on the exposedtop surface of each large mesa structure, such as the top surface ofrelaxed InGaN layer 1352. Due to the growth mask layer 1360, theregrowth may be restricted to the top surface of each large mesastructure.

FIG. 13E shows that a monolithic active region 1370 is formed on the topsurface of relaxed InGaN layer 1352 of each large mesa structure. Asillustrated, monolithic active region 1370 cover the top surface of eachlarge mesa structure. As described above, monolithic active region 1370may include a plurality of layers, such as an optional n-typesemiconductor layer, one or more barrier layers, one or more quantumwell layers, and an optional p-type semiconductor layer. Each layer ofmonolithic active region 1370 may include a III-nitride material, suchas AlInGaN, AlGaN, InGaN, or GaN. As illustrated in FIG. 13E, thestructure formed using the processes described above may have sidewallgrowth in monolithic active region 1370, where the sidewall overgrowthregions 1372 may have a semi-polar orientation and may have a highdefect high density and high leakage as described above.

FIG. 13F shows that a p-contact layer 1380 may be formed on monolithicactive region 1370. P-contact layer 1380 may include a transparentconducting oxide (e.g., ITO) and/or a metal layer, such as Al, Pt, Au,Ag, Ni, Ti, Cu, W, or any combination thereof (e.g., ITO/Ag/Pt/Au,Ag/Pt/Au, or Al/Ni/Au). P-contact layer 1380 may also form a lightreflector for reflecting light emitted in monolithic active region 1370.An etch mask layer 1390 may be formed on p-contact layer 1380. Etch masklayer 1390 may include, for example, a photoresist layer or a dielectriclayer, such as SiO₂ or SiN.

FIG. 13G shows that etch mask layer 1390 may be patterned using alithography process to form an etch mask for etch individual mesastructures (also referred to as pixel mesa structures) for individualmicro-LEDs. P-contact layer 1380 may be etched using etch mask layer1390 to pattern p-contacts for individual micro-LEDs.

FIG. 13H shows that etch mask layer 1390 may be used to etch throughactive region 1370 and at least a portion of relaxed InGaN layer 1352 ina second mesa etching process. The etching may remove the sidewallovergrowth regions 1372 and form individual mesa structures. Asdescribed above, 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, or more mesa structures may be formed ineach large mesa structures. Each individual mesa structure may includerelaxed InGaN layer 1352, active region 1370, and p-contact layer 1380.

FIG. 13I shows that a dielectric layer 1392 may be conformally depositedon surfaces of the mesa structures (including patterned etch mask layer1390) formed after the second mesa etching process. Dielectric layer1392 may include, for example, SiO₂ or SiN. Dielectric layer 1392 may beformed on sidewalls of active region 1370 and may function as apassivation layer for active region 1370. Dielectric layer 1392 may alsoisolate patterned p-contact layer 1380.

FIG. 13J shows that dielectric layer 1392 on top surfaces of theindividual mesa structures and on horizontal surfaces of relaxed InGaNlayer 1352 may be etched away by an anisotropic vertical oxide etchingprocess. Dielectric layer 1392 on side wall of the mesa structures mayremain after the vertical oxide etching process.

FIG. 13K shows that a self-aligned anisotropic third mesa etchingprocess may be performed using patterned etch mask layer 1390. Theself-aligned third mesa etching process may vertically etch throughrelaxed InGaN layer 1352 and porous GaN layer 1342, and at least aportion of n-GaN layer 1330, such that growth mask layer 1360 onsidewalls of porous GaN layer 1342 and n-GaN layer 1330 may fall off orcan be selectively removed. After the self-aligned third mesa etchingprocess, etch mask layer 1390 may be removed, and individual mesastructures that each include n-GaN layer 1330, porous GaN layer 1342,relaxed InGaN layer 1352, active region 1370, p-contact layer 1380, anddielectric layer 1392 may be formed.

FIG. 13L shows that an n-contact layer 1394 may be formed on sidewallsof the mesa structures shown in FIG. 13K. N-contact layer 1394 mayinclude a transparent conducting oxide (e.g., ITO) and/or a metal layer,such as Al, Pt, Au, Ag, Ni, Ti, Cu, W, or any combination thereof (e.g.,ITO/Al, Ag/Pt/Au, or Al/Ni/Au). N-contact layer 1394 may be formed onsidewalls of the mesa structures by depositing n-contact layer 1394 onsurfaces of the mesa structures and then remove the n-contact layer 1394on the top surface of the mesa structures. As a result, individualmicro-LEDs including n-contact layer 1394, relaxed InGaN layer 1352,active region 1370, and p-contact layer 1380 may be formed.

As shown in FIG. 13L, the micro-LEDs may not include the sidewallovergrowth regions 1372 described above. In addition, n-contact layer1394 may provide a low resistance current path to active region 1370 bymaking sidewall contacts with relaxed InGaN layer 1352. Thus, little orno current may pass through the high resistance porous GaN layer 1242.As described above, active region 1370 grown on porous GaN layer 1342and relaxed InGaN layer 1352 may incorporate more indium while achievinga good quality in the InGaN quantum well layers (e.g., low strain andlow defect density). Thus, the micro-LEDs may emit red light with a highefficiency. It is noted that, even though the mesa structures shown inFIGS. 13C-13L have a substantially vertical shape, the mesa structuresmay have other shapes, such as a parabolic shape, a conic shape, aninward-tilted shape, an outward-tilted shape, or the like.

FIG. 13M shows that a dielectric layer 1396 may be coated on themicro-LEDs shown in FIG. 13L. Dielectric layer 1396 may include, forexample, an oxide, such as SiO₂. Dielectric layer 1396 may fill the gapsbetween individual micro-LEDs.

FIG. 13N shows that metal plugs 1382 may be formed in dielectric layer1396 to form p-electrodes and bonding pads for the p-electrodes, and/orn-electrodes and bonding pads for the n-electrodes. Metal plugs 1382 maybe formed by etching trenches in dielectric layer 1396 and deposit ametal material in the trenches.

FIG. 13O shows that the wafer or die including the micro-LEDs formed onsubstrate 1310 may be bonded to a CMOS backplane 1305. CMOS backplane1305 may include driving circuits formed thereon for controlling anddriving the micro-LEDs. CMOS backplane 1305 may have bonding pads 1315formed thereon. Bonding pads 1315 on CMOS backplane 1305 and metal plugs1382 on the micro-LEDs may be bonded together. In some embodiments, thegap between the wafer or die including the micro-LEDs and the CMOSbackplane 1305 may be filled with a non-conductive material, such as adielectric material or an organic material (e.g., an epoxy or a resin).In some embodiments, the surface of CMOS backplane 1305 and the surfaceof the micro-LEDs may each include a dielectric layer and the twodielectric layers may also be bonded together in a hybrid bondingprocess that also bonds bonding pads 1315 on CMOS backplane 1305 andmetal plugs 1382 on the micro-LEDs.

FIG. 13P shows that substrate 1310 may be removed (or thinned) from thebonded device and light extraction structures 1325 (e.g., micro-lenses)may be formed on top of n-GaN layer 1330. In some embodiments, lightextraction structures 1325 may be etched in buffer layer 1320 or n-GaNlayer 1330. In some embodiments, light extraction structures 1325 may beformed in a dielectric material layer (e.g., a SiO₂ or SiN layer)deposited on n-GaN layer 1330 after the removal of substrate 1310. Insome embodiments, ITO-based transparent conducting n-contacts 1335(e.g., n-electrodes) may be formed from the side of n-GaN layer 1330 toconnect to n-contact layer 1394.

FIG. 14A illustrates another example of a red micro-LED mesa structure1400 including a porous GaN layer 1430 according to certain embodiments.Red micro-LED mesa structure 1400 may be an example of a precursor mesastructure, and may include a buffer layer 1410, an n-GaN layer 1420, aporous GaN layer 1430, a relaxed InGaN layer 1440, and an active region1450, which may be similar to buffer layer 1320, n-GaN layer 1330,porous GaN layer 1342, relaxed InGaN layer 1352, and active region 1370,respectively. In red micro-LED mesa structure 1400, active region 1450may be grown on porous GaN layer 1430 and relaxed InGaN layer 1440without using a growth mask layer (e.g., growth mask layer 1360) onsidewalls of porous GaN layer 1430 and relaxed InGaN layer 1440.

FIG. 14B illustrates another example of a red micro-LED mesa structure1405 including a porous GaN layer 1432 according to certain embodiments.Red micro-LED mesa structure 1400 may be another example of a precursormesa structure. In red micro-LED mesa structure 1405, a patterneddielectric layer 1415 may be formed on a buffer layer 1412. Patterneddielectric layer 1415 may include, for example, SiO₂ or SiN. Patterneddielectric layer 1415 may have a plurality of apertures 1414 formedtherein. An n-GaN layer 1422, porous GaN layer 1432, a relaxed InGaNlayer 1442, and an active region 1452 may be formed on buffer layer 1412through an aperture 1414 to form a truncated pyramid-shaped mesastructure. For example, the epitaxial layers of n-GaN, n⁺-GaN, and InGaNmay be grown on buffer layer 1412 through aperture 1414. The epitaxialgrowth through individual apertures 1414 may form individual mesastructures. The n⁺-GaN layer in each of the mesa structures may beelectrochemically etched to form porous GaN layer 1432, such that theInGaN layer 1442 on porous GaN layer 1432 may be relaxed to reducestrain. Active region 1452 may then be grown on the relaxed InGaN layer1442. In red micro-LED mesa structure 1405, active region 1452 may begrown on porous GaN layer 1432 and relaxed InGaN layer 1442 withoutusing a growth mask layer on sidewalls of porous GaN layer 1432 andrelaxed InGaN layer 1442.

In both red micro-LED mesa structure 1400 and red micro-LED mesastructure 1405, the porosification process may be a controlled etchingprocess (e.g., based on the bias current measured by current meter1050), where the electrochemical etching process may be stopped afterthe conductivity of the porous GaN layer formed by etching the n⁺-GaNlayer is approximately equal to the conductivity of the n-GaN layerbeneath (e.g., n-GaN layer 1420 or 1422). It is noted that, even thoughthe mesa structures shown in FIGS. 14A-14B have a certain shape, themesa structures may have other shapes, such as a parabolic shape, aconic shape, a truncated pyramid shape, an inward-tilted shape, anoutward-tilted shape, or the like. The processes for fabricating redmicro-LED mesa structure 1400 and red micro-LED mesa structure 1405 aredescribed in details below.

FIGS. 15A-15F illustrate an example of a method of fabricating redmicro-LED mesa structure 1400 shown in FIG. 14A according to certainembodiments. FIG. 15A shows a layer stack including a substrate 1510 andmultiple epitaxial layers grown on substrate 1510. Substrate 1510 may bea substantially planar substrate and may have an in-plane latticeconstant that is close to the in-plane lattice constants of theepitaxial layers to be grown, in order to reduce the lattice mismatch.For example, in the illustrated example, substrate 1510 may be asapphire substrate. A buffer layer 1520 may be formed on substrate 1510to provide a substrate surface suitable for the formation of III-nitridelayers. As illustrated in FIG. 15A, an n-GaN layer 1530 may beepitaxially grown on buffer layer 1520 using any suitable process suchas an MOCVD process or an MBE process as described above. In theillustrated example, n-GaN layer 1530 may have an n-doping (e.g., Si orGe doping) density about 5×10¹⁸ cm⁻³.

An n⁺-GaN layer 1540 may then be epitaxially grown on n-GaN layer 1530.The n⁺-GaN layer 1540 may be formed using any suitable process, such asan MOCVD process or MBE processes. The n⁺-GaN layer 1540 may have adonor density greater than the doping density of n-GaN layer 1530. Insome embodiments, the donor density of n⁺-GaN layer 1540 may be greaterthan about 1×10¹⁹ cm⁻³, greater than about 3×10¹⁹ cm⁻³, greater thanabout 5×10¹⁹ cm⁻³, greater than about 7×10¹⁹ cm⁻³, or greater than about1×10²⁰ cm⁻³. In the illustrated example, n⁺-GaN layer 1540 may have adoping density greater than about 5×10¹⁹ cm⁻³. The n⁺-GaN layer 1540 mayinclude any suitable donor dopants, such as Si and/or Ge. The n⁺-GaNlayer 1540 may have a relatively high donor density in order to allowfor the formation of pores in the porosity treatment step. In someembodiments, n⁺-GaN layer 1540 may have a thickness greater than about50 nm, such as about 100 nm or higher. In some embodiments, n⁺-GaN layer1540 may have a thickness less than about 2 μm. The thickness of n⁺-GaNlayer 1540 may affect the porosity of the porous GaN layer formed afterthe electrochemical etching.

Following the formation of n⁺-GaN layer 1540, an InGaN layer 1550 may beepitaxially grown on n⁺-GaN layer 1540. The difference in compositionbetween n⁺-GaN layer 1540 and InGaN layer 1550 may result in compressivestrain in InGaN layer 1550. In the illustrated example, InGaN layer 1550may include In_(x)Ga_(1-x)N, where 0<x≤1. In some embodiments, InGaNlayer 1550 may include In_(x)Ga_(1-x)N with 0.03<x≤0.2. The indiumcontent of InGaN layer 1550 may be selected to provide an mesa surfacewith a desired in-plane lattice constant. InGaN layer 1550 may be formedwithout any intentional doping. InGaN layer 1550 may have a thicknessof, for example, greater than about 50 nm, 100 nm, or 200 nm but lessthan 10 μm, such as about 1 μm.

FIG. 15B shows that the layer stack shown in FIG. 15A has been etched toform mesa structures in at least InGaN layer 1550, n⁺-GaN layer 1540,and n-GaN layer 1530. As described above, the mesa structures may haveany suitable shape and may be a precursor mesa structure that has alateral size greater than the lateral size of one or more micro-LEDpixels, such as one, 4, 6, 8, 9, or more micro-LED pixels. The etchingmay be performed using an etch mask and may include a dry or wet etchingprocess.

FIG. 15C shows that an electrochemical etching process has beenperformed to etch n⁺-GaN layer 1540 to form a porous GaN layer 1542, anda thermal treatment process has been performed to relax InGaN layer 1550to form a relaxed InGaN layer 1552. As described above, a DC voltagesignal may be applied to the layer stack that may be immersed in anelectrolyte. The current may mainly flow through n⁺-GaN layer 1540 dueto the low resistance of n⁺-GaN layer 1540. As n⁺-GaN layer 1540 isetched, the effective n-doping density in n⁺-GaN layer 1540 may reduceand the resistance of n⁺-GaN layer 1540 may increase. When theresistance of n⁺-GaN layer 1540 is similar to the resistance of n-GaNlayer 1530 (e.g., when the effective doping density in n⁺-GaN layer 1540is about the same as the doping density of n-GaN layer 1530), thecurrent flowing through the circuit shown in FIG. 10A may reducesignificantly due to the resistance increase, the etching process maytransition to a much slower etch rate, and both n-GaN layer 1530 andn⁺-GaN layer 1540 may be etched at the much slower etch rate. Thus, theselective etching of n⁺-GaN layer 1540 may self-stop. Upon detection ofthe abrupt change (e.g., reduction) in the current by, for example,current meter 1050, the etching process may be stopped (e.g., bydisconnecting the DC bias from power supply 1040), and porous GaN layer1542 may be formed. InGaN layer 1550 may expand and relax during thesubsequent thermal treatment process, and may have a low strain.

FIG. 15D shows that an active region 1560 that includes one or moreactive layers is epitaxially grown on relaxed InGaN layer 1552. Nogrowth masks may be used for the growth of active region 1560. Thus, theone or more active layers may also be grown on sidewalls of the mesastructure shown in FIG. 15C. As described above, active region 1560grown on top of relaxed InGaN layer 1552 can have a high quality (e.g.,low defect density and low strain) and high indium concentration, andthus may emit red light with a high efficiency.

FIG. 15E shows that a patterned photoresist layer 1570 is formed onactive region 1560. Patterned photoresist layer 1570 may be used to etchthe mesa structure to remove the active layers grown on sidewalls of themesa structure. A dry etch process may be performed using patternedphotoresist layer 1570.

FIG. 15F shows a mesa structure after the etching using patternedphotoresist layer 1570 and the removal of the patterned photoresistlayer 1570. The mesa structure may include n-GaN layer 1530, porous GaNlayer 1542, relaxed InGaN layer 1552, and active region 1560. Asdescribed above, the mesa structures may have any suitable shapes, suchas a parabolic shape, a conic shape, a truncated pyramid shape, aninward-tilted shape, an outward-tilted shape, or the like. In addition,the mesa structure may have the size for a single micro-LED pixel ormultiple micro-LED pixels.

Even though not shown in FIGS. 15A-15F, other processes may also beperformed to form micro-LED devices that include arrays of micro-LEDs.For example, as described above with respect to FIGS. 12E-12H and13G-13N, the mesa structures may be etched to form smaller mesastructures (e.g., pixel mesa structures) for individual micro-LED pixel.A p-contact layer may be formed on active region 1560. A passivationlayer may be formed on sidewalls of the mesa structure. An n-contact maybe formed at the sidewalls of the pixel mesa structure to make contactwith sidewalls of relaxed InGaN layer 1552. Bonding pads or contact padsfor connecting the p-contacts and the n-contacts to a driver circuit mayalso be formed. In addition, as described above with respect to, forexample, FIGS. 13O-13P above and FIGS. 19-21 below, the micro-LED die orwafer including the micro-LEDs formed thereon may be bonded to a CMOSbackplane that may drive the micro-LEDs, and light extract structures(e.g., micro-lenses) may be formed on the light emitting surface of themicro-LED die or wafer.

FIGS. 16A-16F illustrate an example of a method of fabricating redmicro-LED mesa structure 1405 shown in FIG. 14B according to certainembodiments. FIG. 16A shows a substrate 1610 and a buffer layer 1620formed on substrate 1610. Substrate 1610 may be a substantially planarsubstrate and may have an in-plane lattice constant that is close to thein-plane lattice constants of the epitaxial layers to reduce latticemismatch. For example, in the illustrated example, substrate 1610 may bea sapphire substrate. Buffer layer 1620 may be formed on substrate 1610to provide a substrate surface suitable for the formation of III-nitridelayers. FIG. 16A also shows a patterned dielectric layer 1625 formed onbuffer layer 1620. Patterned dielectric layer 1625 may include, forexample, SiO₂ or SiN. Patterned dielectric layer 1625 may have aplurality of apertures 1622 formed therein to expose portions of the topsurface of buffer layer 1620.

FIG. 16B shows that an n-GaN layer 1630, an n+-GaN layer 1640, and anInGaN layer 1650 have been grown on buffer layer 1620 through oneaperture 1622 using any suitable process such as an MOCVD process or anMBE process as described above. In the illustrated example, n+-GaN layer1640 may have an n-doping (e.g., Si or Ge doping) density greater thanabout 5×10¹⁹ cm⁻³, in order to allow for the formation of pores in theporosity treatment step. In some embodiments, n⁺-GaN layer 1640 may havea thickness greater than about 50 nm or greater than about 100 nm. Insome embodiments, n⁺-GaN layer 1640 may have a thickness less than 2 μm.The thickness of n⁺-GaN layer 1640 may affect the porosity of the porousGaN layer formed after the electrochemical etching. InGaN layer 1650 mayhave a composition (and thus a lattice constant) different from thecomposition (and thus the lattice constant) of n⁺-GaN layer 1640. Thedifference in composition and lattice constant between n⁺-GaN layer 1640and InGaN layer 1650 may result in compressive strain in InGaN layer1650. In the illustrated example, InGaN layer 1650 may includeIn_(x)Ga_(1-x)N, where 0<x≤1. In some embodiments, InGaN layer 1650 mayinclude In_(x)Ga_(1-x)N with 0.03<x≤0.2. The indium content of InGaNlayer 1650 may be selected to provide an mesa surface with a desiredin-plane lattice constant. InGaN layer 1650 may be formed without anyintentional doping. InGaN layer 1650 may have a thickness of, forexample, greater than about 50 nm, 100 nm, or 200 nm but less than 10μm, such as about 1 μm. The epitaxial growth on the exposed region ofbuffer layer 1620 through aperture 1622 may naturally form a truncatedpyramid-shaped mesa structure as shown in FIG. 16B. The mesa structuremay have a size greater than the size of one or more micro-LED pixels,such as one, 4, 6, 8, 9, or more micro-LED pixels.

FIG. 16C shows that an electrochemical etching has been performed toetch n⁺-GaN layer 1640 to form a porous GaN layer 1642, and a thermaltreatment may be performed to relax InGaN layer 1650 to form a relaxedInGaN layer 1652. As described above, a voltage signal may be applied tothe layer stack that may be immersed in an electrolyte. The current maymainly flow through n⁺-GaN layer 1640 due to the low resistance ofn⁺-GaN layer 1640. As n⁺-GaN layer 1640 is etched, the effectiven-doping density in n⁺-GaN layer 1640 may reduce and the resistance ofn⁺-GaN layer 1640 may increase. When the resistance of n⁺-GaN layer 1640is similar to the resistance of n-GaN layer 1630 (e.g., when theeffective doping density in n⁺-GaN layer 1640 is about the same as thedoping density of n-GaN layer 1630), the current flowing through thecircuit shown in FIG. 10A may reduce significantly due to the resistanceincrease, and the etching process may transition to a much slower etchrate, where both n-GaN layer 1630 and n⁺-GaN layer 1640 may be etched atthe much slower etch rate. Thus, the selective etching of n⁺-GaN layer1640 may self-stop. Upon detection of the abrupt change (e.g.,reduction) in the current (e.g., by current meter 1050), theelectrochemical etching process may be stopped (e.g., by disconnectingthe DC bias from power supply 1040) and porous GaN layer 1642 may beformed. InGaN layer 1650 may then expand and relax during the subsequentthermal treatment, and may have a low strain after the relaxation.

FIG. 16D shows that an active region 1660 that includes one or moreactive layers is epitaxially grown on relaxed InGaN layer 1652. Nogrowth mask may be used for the growth of active region 1660. Thus, theone or more active layers may also be grown on sidewalls of the mesastructure shown in FIG. 16C. As described above, active region 1660grown on top of relaxed InGaN layer 1652 can have a high quality (e.g.,low strain and low defect density) and high indium concentration, andtherefore may emit red light with a high efficiency.

FIG. 16E shows that a patterned photoresist layer 1670 is formed onactive region 1660. Patterned photoresist layer 1670 may be used to etchthe mesa structure to remove the active layers grown on sidewalls of themesa structure. A dry etch process may be performed using patternedphotoresist layer 1670.

FIG. 16F shows a mesa structure after the etching using patternedphotoresist layer 1670 and the removal of the patterned photoresistlayer 1670. The mesa structure may include n-GaN layer 1630, porous GaNlayer 1642, relaxed InGaN layer 1652, and active region 1660. Asdescribed above, the mesa structures may have any suitable shapes, suchas a parabolic shape, a conic shape, a truncated pyramid shape, aninward-tilted shape, an outward-tilted shape, or the like. In addition,the mesa structure may have the lateral size for a single micro-LEDpixel or multiple micro-LED pixels.

FIG. 17 illustrates an example of an array of red micro-LED mesastructures 1710 fabricated using the method shown in FIGS. 16A-16Faccording to certain embodiments. FIG. 17 also shows a zoom-in view of ared micro-LED mesa structure 1710. Each red micro-LED mesa structure1710 may include an n-GaN layer 1630, a porous GaN layer 1642, a relaxedInGaN layer 1652, and an active region 1660, as shown in FIG. 16D. Asillustrated, each red micro-LED mesa structures 1710 may have atruncated pyramid shape. An area 1720 on each red micro-LED mesastructures 1710 shows the area for a micro-LED pixel, where regions ofred micro-LED mesa structures 1710 outside area 1720 may be etched usingpatterned photoresist layer 1670 as shown in FIGS. 16E and 16F. In someembodiments, the cross-section of each micro-LED may have a circularshape, a rectangular shape (as shown by a rectangular area 1722), asquare shape, or the like.

Even though not shown in FIGS. 16A-16F, other processes may also beperformed to form micro-LED devices that include arrays of micro-LEDs.For example, as described above with respect to FIGS. 12E-12H and13G-13N, the mesa structures may be etched to form smaller mesastructures (e.g., pixel mesa structures) for individual micro-LED pixel.A p-contact layer may be formed on active region 1660. A passivationlayer may be formed on sidewalls of the mesa structure. An n-contact maybe formed at the sidewalls of the pixel mesa structure to make contactwith sidewalls of relaxed InGaN layer 1652. Bonding pads or contact padsfor connecting the p-contacts and the n-contacts to a driver circuit mayalso be formed. In addition, as described above with respect to, forexample, FIGS. 13O-13P above and FIGS. 19-21 below, the micro-LED die orwafer including the micro-LEDs formed thereon may be bonded to a CMOSbackplane that may drive the micro-LEDs, and light extract structures(e.g., micro-lenses) may be formed on the light emitting surface of themicro-LED die or wafer.

FIG. 18 includes a simplified flowchart 1800 illustrating an example ofa method of fabricating red micro-LEDs according to certain embodiments.It is noted that the operations illustrated in FIG. 18 provideparticular processes for fabricating red micro-LEDs. Other sequences ofoperations can also be performed according to alternative embodiments.For example, alternative embodiments may perform the operation in adifferent order. Moreover, the individual operations illustrated in FIG.18 can include multiple sub-operations that can be performed in varioussequences as appropriate for the individual operation. Furthermore, someoperations can be added or removed depending on the particularapplications. In some implementations, two or more operations may beperformed in parallel. One of ordinary skill in the art would recognizemany variations, modifications, and alternatives.

Operations in block 1810 of flowchart 1800 may include forming aplurality of precursor mesa structures on a substrate. Each precursormesa structure of the plurality of precursor mesa structures may includea layer of a first semiconductor material grown on the substrate, aporous layer of the first semiconductor material on the layer of thefirst semiconductor material and characterized by an areal porosityequal to or greater than 15% (e.g., between about 30% and 90%, such as70%), and a layer of a second semiconductor material on the porouslayer. The second semiconductor material is characterized by a latticeconstant greater than a lattice constant of the first semiconductormaterial. The substrate may include, for example, a buffer layer and asapphire layer. The first semiconductor material may include a firstIII-nitride semiconductor material, and the second semiconductormaterial may include a second III-nitride semiconductor material. In oneexample, the first semiconductor material may include GaN and the secondsemiconductor material may include InGaN. The layer of the firstsemiconductor material may be n-doped with a doping density less thanabout 1×10¹⁹ cm⁻³, such as about 5×10¹⁸ cm⁻³. The layer of the secondsemiconductor material may include In_(x)Ga_(1-x)N, where 0<x≤0.2. Thelayer of the second semiconductor material may have a lower resistancethan the porous layer. A thickness of the porous layer may be greaterthan about 100 nm.

As described above with respect to, for example, FIGS. 11A-11C, 13A-13C,and 15A-15C, in some embodiments, forming the plurality of precursormesa structures on the substrate may include growing an epitaxial layerstack on the substrate, where the epitaxial layer stack may include thelayer of the first semiconductor material, an n⁺-type layer of the firstsemiconductor material, and the layer of the second semiconductormaterial on the n⁺-type layer. The n⁺-type layer of the firstsemiconductor material may be electrochemically etched to form theporous layer. The epitaxial layer stack may be etched to form theplurality of precursor mesa structures. The plurality of precursor mesastructures may be thermally treated to cause the layer of the secondsemiconductor material to relax and expand to reduce the strain.

As described above with respect to, for example, FIGS. 16A-16C, in someembodiments, forming the plurality of precursor mesa structures on thesubstrate may include forming a patterned dielectric layer on thesubstrate, where the patterned dielectric layer may include a pluralityof apertures to expose portions of the substrate. A respective epitaxiallayer stack may be grown, through a respective aperture of the pluralityof apertures, on each exposed portion of the exposed portions of thesubstrate. The respective epitaxial layer stack may include the layer ofthe first semiconductor material, an n⁺-type layer of the firstsemiconductor material, and the layer of the second semiconductormaterial on the n⁺-type layer. The n⁺-type layer of the firstsemiconductor material may be electrochemically etched to form theporous layer. The plurality of precursor mesa structures may bethermally treated to cause the layer of the second semiconductormaterial to relax and expand.

In some embodiments, the layer of the first semiconductor material isn-doped with a doping density less than 1×10¹⁹ cm⁻³, such as about5×10¹⁸ cm⁻³. The n⁺-type layer of the first semiconductor material mayhave a higher doping density than the layer of the first semiconductormaterial. For example, the n⁺-type layer of the first semiconductormaterial may have a doping density greater than about 1×10¹⁹ cm⁻³, suchas about 3×10¹⁹ cm⁻³, about 5×10¹⁹ cm⁻³, about 7×10¹⁹ cm⁻³, or about1×10²⁰ cm⁻³. As described above, the electrochemically etching may bestopped when the resistance of the n⁺-type layer approximately equals tothe resistance of the layer of the first semiconductor material, such aswhen a difference between a doping density of the n⁺-type layer and adoping density of the layer of the first semiconductor material is lessthan about 5%.

Operations at block 1820 may include forming an LED layer stack on eachprecursor mesa structure of the plurality of precursor mesa structuresas shown in, for example, FIGS. 11E, 12C, 13E, 13F, 15D, and 16D. TheLED layer stack may include an active region on the relaxed layer of thesecond semiconductor material (e.g., relaxed InGaN) and a p-contactlayer on the active region, where the active region may be configured toemit red light. In some embodiments, forming the LED layer stack mayinclude forming a growth mask layer on sidewalls of each precursor mesastructure of the plurality of precursor mesa structures as shown in, forexample, FIGS. 11D and 13D, growing the active region on the relaxedlayer of the second semiconductor material, and forming the p-contactlayer on the active region. As described above, due to the relaxation ofthe layer of the second semiconductor material (e.g., InGaN), the activeregion grown on the layer of the second semiconductor material mayincorporate more indium in the In_(x)Ga_(1-x)N layers in the activeregion, such as the quantum well layers, where x may be greater than0.2, such as between about 0.2 and about 0.5. In addition, the activeregion may have a low strain and a low defect density, and thus may emitlight with a high efficiency.

At block 1830, the LED layer stack may be etched to remove peripheralregions of the LED layer stack and to form one or more pixel mesastructures on each precursor mesa structure of the plurality ofprecursor mesa structures as shown in, for example, FIGS. 12E, 13G-13H,15E-15F, and 16E-16F. As described above, the parasitic sidewallovergrowth regions may be removed by the etching. In some embodiments,the etching may form multiple pixel mesa structures on each precursormesa structure, such as 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, or more pixel mesa structures oneach precursor mesa structure. The etching may etch through thep-contact layer, the active region, and at least a portion of therelaxed layer of the second semiconductor material.

At block 1840, a dielectric layer may be formed on sidewalls of eachpixel mesa structures of one or more pixel mesa structures as shown in,for example, FIG. 13I. The dielectric layer may isolate the p-contactlayer and may act as a passivation layer at the sidewalls of the activeregion. The dielectric layer may also be on a portion of the sidewallsof the relaxed layer of the second semiconductor material. Thedielectric layer may include, for example, SiO₂ or Si₃N₄.

At block 1850, the plurality of precursor mesa structures on thesubstrate may be etched using a mask layer on the one or more pixel mesastructure as shown in, for example, FIGS. 13J and 13K. The mask layermay be the mask layer used to etch the LED layer stack to form the oneor more pixel mesa structures at block 1830. The etching may etchthrough the relaxed layer of the second semiconductor material, theporous layer, and at least a portion of the layer of the firstsemiconductor layer (e.g., n-GaN layer 1330).

At block 1860, an n-contact layer may be formed on sidewalls of eachpixel mesa structure of the one or more pixel mesa structures formedafter the operations at block 1850 to form a micro-LED array, as shownin, for example, FIGS. 12G and 13L. The n-contact layer may be inphysical contact with the dielectric layer, at least a portion ofsidewalls of the relaxed layer of the second semiconductor material, andsidewalls of the porous layer. The dielectric layer may be between then-contact layer and the sidewalls of the p-contact layer and the activeregion. The n-contact layer may also be on at least a portion ofsidewalls of the layer of the first semiconductor material (e.g., n-GaNlayer 1330).

In some embodiments, a dielectric layer may be coated on the micro-LEDarray formed at block 1860. The dielectric layer may include, forexample, an oxide, such as SiO₂, and may fill the gaps betweenindividual pixel mesa structures. Metal plugs may be formed in thedielectric layer to form p-electrodes and bonding pads for thep-electrodes, and/or n-electrodes and bonding pads for the n-electrodes.The wafer or die including the micro-LED array may be bonded to a CMOSbackplane. The CMOS backplane may include driving circuits formedthereon for controlling and driving the micro-LEDs. The CMOS backplanemay have bonding pads formed thereon. Bonding pads on the CMOS backplaneand metal plugs on the wafer or die including the micro-LED array may bebonded together. In some embodiments, the gap between the wafer or dieincluding the micro-LED array and the CMOS backplane may be filled witha non-conductive material, such as a dielectric material or an organicmaterial (e.g., an epoxy or a resin). In some embodiments, the surfaceof the CMOS backplane and the surface of the wafer or die including themicro-LED array may each include a dielectric layer and the twodielectric layers may also be bonded together in a hybrid bondingprocess. The substrate of the micro-LED array may then be removed fromthe bonded device and light extraction structures (e.g., micro-lenses)may be formed on the light emitting side of the bonded structure.

FIG. 19 illustrates an example of a layer stack 1900 in a micro-LEDaccording to certain embodiments. Layer stack 1900 may include an n-GaNlayer 1910, which may be similar to, for example, n-GaN layer 1230,1330, 1420, 1530, or 1630 described above. For example, n-GaN layer 1910may be grown on a buffer layer formed on a substrate, and may be dopedwith donors such Si or Ge at a donor density less than about 1×10¹⁹cm⁻³, such as about 5×10¹⁸ cm⁻³. A porous GaN layer 1920 may be formedon n-GaN layer 1910 using techniques described above. For example,porous GaN layer 1920 may be formed by epitaxially growing an n⁺-GaNlayer and an intrinsic or lightly doped InGaN layer 1930 on n-GaN layer1910, and then etching the n⁺-GaN layer using an electrochemical etchingprocess. A thermal treatment may then be performed to strain-relax InGaNlayer 1930. The n⁺-GaN layer may have a doping density greater thanabout 1×10¹⁹ cm⁻³, such as about 5×10¹⁹ cm⁻³ or higher. The n⁺-GaN layermay have a thickness greater than about 50 nm, such as about 100 nm orhigher. Intrinsic InGaN layer 1930 may have a thickness greater thanabout 50 nm, such as 100 nm or thicker. Intrinsic InGaN layer 1930 mayhave a lower indium concentration (e.g., In_(x)Ga_(1-x)N with x lessthan about 0.2 or 0.1, such as about 0.06). Intrinsic InGaN layer 1930may be used as a buffer layer for growing high-quality high-indiumconcentration InGaN layers. FIG. 19 shows a regrowth surface 1935 onintrinsic InGaN layer 1930 that has been strain-relaxed. Regrowthsurface 1935 may have a low strain and a low defect density, and may besuitable for growing high-quality InGaN layers with higher indiumconcentration.

In the illustrated example, an InGaN layer 1940 may first be grown onregrowth surface 1935. InGaN layer 1940 may have a thickness greaterthan about 50 nm, such as about 100 nm, and may have a higher indiumconcentration, such as In_(x)Ga_(1-x)N with x greater than about 0.1 or0.2. In one example, InGaN layer 1940 may have the indium mole fractionx about 0.12. InGaN layer 1940 may be a buffer layer or an intermediatelayer for growing active layers. One or more quantum wells 1950(including quantum well layers and barrier layers) may be grown on InGaNlayer 1940 to form an active region. Quantum wells 1950 may includeIn_(x)Ga_(1-x)N quantum well layers with x≥0.2, and may have a highquality and a low strain and defect density. Therefore, quantum wells1950 may emit green or red light at a high efficiency. For example, theexternal quantum efficiency (EQE) of a 5-μm InGaN red micro-LED may beimproved from about 1.5% to about 3.5% or higher using techniquesdisclosed herein, and the peak-efficiency current density of the 5-μmInGaN red micro-LED may be reduced from about 20 A/cm² to about 1 A/cm²or lower. A p-type GaN layer 1960 (e.g., including (Al)(In)GaN) may begrown on quantum wells 1950.

As described above, to display color images using micro-LEDs, red,green, and blue micro-LEDs may need to be used, where each pixel of acolor image may be generated by, for example, a red micro-LED pixel, agreen micro-LED pixel, and a blue micro-LED pixel. In general,micro-LEDs manufactured on a same wafer or die may only emit light in asame color. Therefore, to display color images, three micro-LED dies orthree display panels may generally be used. The number of micro-LED diesor display panels may be reduced using some techniques, such as colorconversion using color phosphors or quantum dots, or regrowth processesto form quantum wells for different colors. However, these techniquesmay have low efficiencies and/or may not be able to achieve small pixelpitches for high resolution displays.

According to certain embodiments, an engineered wafer may include aporous semiconductor (e.g., GaN) layer that has different porosities indifferent regions. The different porosities in different regions of theporous semiconductor layer may cause different amounts of strainrelaxation of a buffer layer (e.g., an InGaN layer) on the poroussemiconductor layer. As such, different amounts of indium may beincorporated into the active regions grown on different regions of theporous semiconductor layer and the strain-relaxed buffer layer. Thedifferent amounts of indium in the active regions may cause differentred shifts of the light emitted in the active regions. Therefore, theengineered wafer may be used to grow active regions of micro-LEDs thatemit light in two or more different colors. As such, micro-LEDs that mayemit light in different colors may be fabricated on a same wafer or in asame die, so that one or two micro-LED dies or display panels may beable to generate the desired color images.

FIG. 20 illustrates an example of an engineered wafer 2000 includingprecursor mesa structures for growing micro-LEDs that emit light ofdifferent colors according to certain embodiments. Engineered wafer 2000includes an n-GaN layer 2010 and precursor mesa structures 2002, 2004,and 2006 formed on n-GaN layer 2010. As described above, n-GaN layer2010 may be grown on a buffer layer formed on a substrate (not shown inFIG. 20 ), and may be doped with donors (e.g., Si or Ge) at a donordensity less than about 1×10¹⁹ cm⁻³, such as about 5×10¹⁸ cm⁻³. In theillustrated example, precursor mesa structure 2002 may include a GaNlayer 2020 and an InGaN layer 2030. Precursor mesa structure 2004 mayinclude a porous GaN layer 2022 and a relaxed InGaN layer 2032.Precursor mesa structure 2006 may include a porous GaN layer 2024 and arelaxed InGaN layer 2034. InGaN layer 2030 and relaxed InGaN layers 2032and 2034 may be used as buffer layers for growing active regions ofmicro-LEDs. GaN layer 2020 and porous GaN layers 2022 and 2024 may havea thickness greater than about 50 nm, such as about 100 nm or higher.InGaN layer 2030 and relaxed InGaN layers 2032 and 2034 may have anindium mole fraction x in In_(x)Ga_(1-x)N no greater than 0.2, and mayhave a thickness greater than about 50 nm, such as 100 nm or thicker.

As illustrated, GaN layer 2020 and porous GaN layers 2022 and 2024 mayhave different porosities. For example, GaN layer 2020 may not beporosified, porous GaN layer 2022 may have an areal porosity greaterthan about 30%, while porous GaN layer 2024 may have an areal porositygreater than about 70%. Therefore, InGaN layer 2030 may have a higherstrain than relaxed InGaN layer 2032, which may in turn have a higherstrain than relaxed InGaN layer 2034. As such, active InGaN layers grownon relaxed InGaN layer 2034 may incorporate more indium than activeInGaN layers grown on relaxed InGaN layer 2032, which may incorporatemore indium than active InGaN layers grown on InGaN layer 2030. As aresult, active InGaN layers grown on InGaN layer 2030 may emit bluelight, active InGaN layers grown on relaxed InGaN layer 2032 may emitgreen light, while active InGaN layers grown on relaxed InGaN layer 2034may emit red light.

Each of precursor mesa structures 2002, 2004, and 2006 may be formed onn-GaN layer 2010 using techniques described above and below. Forexample, each of precursor mesa structures 2002, 2004, and 2006 may beformed by epitaxially growing an n⁺-GaN layer and an intrinsic InGaNlayer on n-GaN layer 2010. The n⁺-GaN layer may have a doping densitygreater than about 1×10¹⁹ cm⁻³, such as about 5×10¹⁹ cm⁻³ or higher. Then⁺-GaN layer and the intrinsic InGaN layer may be etched to formindividual precursor mesa structures. The n⁺-GaN layers of theindividual precursor mesa structures may be selectively porosified usingelectrochemical etching techniques. The precursor mesa structures maythen be thermally treated to strain-relax the intrinsic InGaN layer bydifferent amounts.

The selective porosification of different regions of a dopedsemiconductor layer, such as the n⁺-GaN layer, to achieve the differentporosities in different regions may be performed using varioustechniques. For example, different regions of the doped semiconductorlayer may be subjected to a porosity treatment process (e.g., anelectrochemical etching process) for different durations. In anotherexample, different regions of the doped semiconductor layer may havedifferent doping densities (e.g., selectively modified by selective ionimplantation or grown in separate steps), and thus may have differentporosities after a same porosity treatment process. In yet anotherexample, different regions of the doped semiconductor layer may havedifferent doping densities and may also be subjected to a porositytreatment process for different durations.

FIGS. 21A-21E illustrate an example of a method of selectiveporosification of different regions of a doped semiconductor layer in anengineered wafer, such as engineered wafer 2000, according to certainembodiments. FIG. 21A shows a structure 2100 (e.g., an engineered wafer)including two precursor mesa structures 2102 and 2104 formed on an n-GaNlayer 2110. As described above, structure 2100 may be formed by growingn-GaN layer 2110, an n⁺-GaN layer, and an InGaN layer on a substrateand/or a buffer layer (not shown) and then etching the n⁺-GaN layer andthe InGaN layer to form precursor mesa structures 2102 and 2104. N—GaNlayer 2110, the n⁺-GaN layer, and the InGaN layer may be similar to thecorresponding layers described above with respect to, for example, FIGS.11A, 13A, and 15A. Precursor mesa structure 2102 may include an n⁺-GaNlayer 2120 and an InGaN layer 2140. Precursor mesa structure 2104 mayinclude an n⁺-GaN layer 2130 and an InGaN layer 2150. The n⁺-GaN layers2120 and 2130 may have a doping density greater than about 1×10¹⁹ cm⁻³,such as greater than about 5×10¹⁹ cm⁻³ or higher.

FIG. 21B shows that structure 2100 may be coated with a thick dielectriclayer 2160, such as a SiO₂ layer, to cover the two precursor mesastructures 2102 and 2104. FIG. 21C shows that dielectric layer 2160 maybe selectively etched (e.g., using a patterned etch mask layer) in someregions to expose the InGaN layer in some regions. For example, thedielectric material on top of InGaN layer 2140 may be removed by theselective etching to expose InGaN layer 2140 and/or sidewalls of GaNlayer 2120. A porosity treatment process as described above may beperformed to porosify n⁺-GaN layer 2120 from the sidewalls to form aporous GaN layer 2122. For example, precursor mesa structure 2102 may besubjected to an electrochemical etching process for about 10 minutesand/or under a lower DC bias voltage (e.g., applied by power supply1040). Precursor mesa structure 2102 may then be thermally treated suchthat InGaN layer 2140 may relax and expand to form a relaxed InGaN layer2142. After the thermal treatment process, a dielectric material (e.g.,SiO₂) may be deposited on top of relaxed InGaN layer 2142 to coverprecursor mesa structure 2102.

FIG. 21D shows that dielectric layer 2160 may be selectively etched(e.g., using a patterned etch mask layer) in some regions to expose theInGaN layer in some regions. For example, the dielectric material on topof InGaN layer 2150 may be removed by the selective etching to exposeInGaN layer 2150 and the sidewalls of GaN layer 2130. A porositytreatment process as described above may be performed to porosify n⁺-GaNlayer 2130 from the sidewalls to form a porous GaN layer 2132. Forexample, precursor mesa structure 2104 may be subjected to anelectrochemical etching process for about 30 minutes and/or under ahigher DC bias voltage. Thus, porous GaN layer 2132 may have a higherporosity than porous GaN layer 2122. Precursor mesa structure 2104 maythen be thermally treated such that InGaN layer 2150 may relax andexpand to form a relaxed InGaN layer 2152. Due to different porositiesof porous GaN layers 2122 and 2132, relaxed InGaN layers 2142 and 2152may relax by different amounts and may have different internal strainand different lattice structures and lattice dimensions.

FIG. 21E shows that the dielectric material of dielectric layer 2160above the top surface of relaxed InGaN layers 2142 and 2152 may beremoved to expose relaxed InGaN layers 2142 and 2152, on which activeregions 2170 and 2180, respectively, may be grown. Dielectric layer 2160may prevent the growth of the semiconductor materials on sidewalls ofthe two precursor mesa structures 2102 and 2104. Due to the differentrelaxation of relaxed InGaN layers 2142 and 2152, active regions 2170and 2180 may incorporate different amounts of indium and thus may emitlight of different colors. More specifically, active region 2180 mayincorporate more indium than active region 2170 and thus may emit lightat a longer wavelength than active region 2170. For example, activeregion 2180 may emit red light, while active region 2170 may emit greenlight.

FIGS. 22A-22D illustrate another example of a method of selectiveporosification of different regions of a doped semiconductor layer in anengineered wafer, such as engineered wafer 2000, according to certainembodiments. FIG. 22A shows a structure 2200 (e.g., an engineered wafer)including two precursor mesa structures 2202 and 2204 formed on an n-GaNlayer 2210. As described above, structure 2200 may be formed by growingn-GaN layer 2210, an n⁺-GaN layer, and an InGaN layer on a substrateand/or a buffer layer (not shown) and then etching the n⁺-GaN layer andthe InGaN layer to form precursor mesa structures 2202 and 2204. N—GaNlayer 2210, the n⁺-GaN layer, and the InGaN layer may be similar to thecorresponding layers described above with respect to, for example, FIGS.11A, 13A, and 15A. The n⁺-GaN layer may have a doping density greaterthan 1×10¹⁹ cm⁻³, such as greater than about 5×10¹⁹ cm⁻³ or higher.Precursor mesa structure 2202 may include an n⁺-GaN layer 2220 and anInGaN layer 2240. Precursor mesa structure 2204 may include an n⁺-GaNlayer 2230 and an InGaN layer 2250.

FIG. 22B shows that ion implantation may be performed on some precursormesa structures, such as precursor mesa structure 2202 but not precursormesa structure 2204. The ion implantation may increase or decrease thedonor density and the conductivity of n⁺-GaN layer 2220 in precursormesa structure 2202. For example, the ion implantation may decrease thedonor density (e.g., <about 1×10¹⁹ cm⁻³, such as about 5×10¹⁸ cm⁻³) andthe conductivity of n⁺-GaN layer 2220. Because no implantation isperformed on precursor mesa structure 2204, the donor density of n⁺-GaNlayer 2230 may remain unchanged, such as greater than 1×10¹⁹ cm⁻³, about5×10¹⁹ cm⁻³, or higher. In some embodiments, different amounts and/ortypes of ion implantation may be performed on precursor mesa structure2202 and precursor mesa structure 2204 to modify the donor densities ofn⁺-GaN layer 2220 and n⁺-GaN layer 2230 differently.

FIG. 22C shows that a porosity treatment process (e.g., anelectrochemical etching process) may be performed on precursor mesastructure 2202 and precursor mesa structure 2204. Due to the differentdonor densities of n⁺-GaN layers 2220 and 2230, the electrochemicaletching process may start first on the n⁺-GaN layer with the higherdonor density and higher conductivity. Thus, the resultant porous GaNlayers 2222 and 2232 may have different porosities. More specifically,porous GaN layer 2232 may have a higher porosity than porous GaN layer2222.

FIG. 22D shows that precursor mesa structures 2202 and 2204 may bethermally treated to cause InGaN layers 2240 and 2250 to relax andexpand and form relaxed InGaN layers 2242 and 2252. Because porous GaNlayer 2232 may have a higher porosity than porous GaN layer 2222, InGaNlayer 2250 may relax more than InGaN layer 2240. A dielectric layer 2260may be coated on precursor mesa structures 2202 and 2204 and thenplanarized. Dielectric layer 2260 may be used to prevent the growth ofsemiconductor materials on sidewalls of the two precursor mesastructures 2202 and 2204 in the subsequent active layer growthprocesses.

Active regions may be grown on relaxed InGaN layers 2242 and 2252 asdescribed above with respect to FIG. 21E. Due to the different amountsof relaxation of relaxed InGaN layers 2242 and 2252, the active regionsmay incorporate different amounts of indium and thus may emit light ofdifferent colors. More specifically, the active region grown on relaxedInGaN layer 2252 may incorporate more indium than the active regiongrown on relaxed InGaN layer 2242, and thus may emit light at a longerwavelength.

Even though not shown in FIGS. 21A-22D, processes described above withrespect to, for example, FIGS. 13F-13P, may be performed on thestructures shown in FIG. 21E or 22D to form a micro-LED die or wafer (ora packaged device or wafer stack including an electrical backplane) thatincludes micro-LEDs configured to emit light of different colors. Thus,one or two dies or display panels, rather than three dies or displaypanels, may be able to generate color images.

FIG. 23 illustrates the wavelength shift of micro-LEDs fabricated onengineered wafers including buffer layers that include a porous GaNlayer and a relaxed InGaN layer according to certain embodiments. Aspectral map 2300 in FIG. 23 shows the wavelengths of micro-LEDsfabricated on an engineered wafer including a porous GaN layer and arelaxed InGaN layer, while a spectral map 2302 shows the wavelengths ofmicro-LEDs fabricated on a wafer that does not include a porous GaNlayer or a relaxed InGaN layer. The micro-LEDs fabricated on theengineered wafer may have a layer stack similar to layer stack 1900shown in FIG. 19 .

Spectral map 2302 shows that the average central wavelength of themicro-LEDs fabricated using conventional techniques may be about 486 nm(blue light), while spectral map 2300 shows the average centralwavelength of micro-LEDs fabricated on the engineered wafer includingthe porous GaN layer and the relaxed InGaN layer may be about 545 nm(green light), which indicates a red shift about 60 nm. Most regions2310 of spectral map 2300 show central wavelengths of emitted lightaround 545 nm, but two regions 2320 of spectral map 2300 correspondingto alignment mark regions that have not been porosified show centralwavelengths of emitted light around 485 nm. Thus, this example showsthat micro-LEDs on the same wafer can naturally emit blue light andgreen light as a result of the selective porosification techniquesdisclosed herein.

Techniques disclosed herein can be used for other applications. Forexample, it may be easier to remove individual micro-LEDs on poroussemiconductor layers. Techniques disclosed herein can also be used tomake other devices that are in a same die or on a same wafer but havedifferent optical properties. For example, DBRs may be made using poroussemiconductor layers and other semiconductor layers. The refractiveindex of a porous semiconductor layer in a DBR may be a function of theporosity of the porous semiconductor layer. Therefore, DBRs fordifferent wavelength bands may be formed on a same wafer or a same dieby selective porosification of doped semiconductor layers to achievedesired porosities and refractive indexes in the porosifiedsemiconductor layers. The DBRs for different wavelength bands may beused to make resonant-cavity micro-LEDs that emit light in differentcolors, or may be used to form cavities for converting light emitted inthe active regions into light of different colors. The DBRs fordifferent wavelength bands may also be used to make multi-colorvertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) in a same die or on asame wafer.

FIG. 24 illustrates an example of an engineered wafer 2400 includingDBRs for different wavelength bands according to certain embodiments.Engineered wafer 2400 includes an n-GaN layer 2410 and mesa structures2402, 2404, and 2406 formed on n-GaN layer 2410. N—GaN layer 2410 may begrown on a buffer layer formed on a substrate (not shown in FIG. 24 ),and may be doped with donors such as Si or Ge at a donor density lessthan about 1×10¹⁹ cm⁻³, such as about 5×10¹⁸ cm⁻³. Mesa structures 2402,2404, and 2406 may each include a DBR structure and a buffer layer(e.g., an intrinsic InGaN layer). Each DBR structure may includealternating GaN layers and porous GaN layers.

Each of mesa structures 2402, 2404, and 2406 may be formed by firstgrowing a layer stack including multiple pairs (e.g., >5 pairs, such as8, 10, 16, or 20 pairs) of GaN layers and an intrinsic InGaN layer,where each pair of GaN layers may include a GaN layer with a low dopingdensity (e.g., <1×10¹⁹ cm⁻³ or unintentionally doped) and a GaN layerwith a high doping density (e.g., >1×10¹⁹ cm⁻³). Each GaN layer in apair may have a respective thickness about tens of nanometers, such asabout 40, 50, or 60 nm. In some embodiments, the layer stack may beetched to form individual mesa structures. In some embodiments, threeepitaxial growth processes may be used to separately grow mesastructures 2402, 2404, and 2406, where the GaN layers in different mesastructures may have different thicknesses, different periodicity,different doping densities, and/or different numbers of layers. The mesastructures may then be subjected to different porosity treatmentprocesses (e.g., different etching durations) as described above withrespect to, for example, FIGS. 21A-21D, or may be subjected to differention implantation processes and then a same porosity treatment process asdescribed above with respect to, for example, FIGS. 22A-22D. Inembodiments where mesa structures 2402, 2404, and 2406 are grown inseparate growing processes and have different doping densities, a sameporosity treatment process may be performed to porosify the doped GaNlayer. As such, the doped GaN layers may have different porosities andthus different refractive indexes in different mesa structures.

In the illustrated example, mesa structures 2402 may include a DBRstructure 2420 and an InGaN layer 2430, where DBR structure 2420 mayinclude porous GaN layers having a low porosity and a higher refractiveindex. Mesa structures 2404 may include a DBR structure 2422 and anInGaN layer 2432, where DBR structure 2422 may include porous GaN layershaving a medium porosity and a medium refractive index. Mesa structures2406 may include a DBR structure 2424 and an InGaN layer 2434, where DBRstructure 2424 may include porous GaN layers having a high porosity anda lower refractive index. Therefore, each mesa structure 2402, 2404, or2406 may have a high reflectivity in a respective wavelength band, suchas the red, green, or blue light band. The DBRs for different wavelengthbands may be used to make resonant-cavity micro-LEDs that emit light indifferent colors, or may be used to form cavities for converting lightemitted in the active regions into light of different colors.

FIG. 25 illustrates an example of a wafer 2500 including VCSELs thatemit light in different wavelength ranges according to certainembodiments. Engineered wafer 2500 includes an n-GaN layer 2510 andVCSELs 2502, 2504, and 2506 formed on n-GaN layer 2510. N—GaN layer 2510may be grown on a substrate 2505, and may be doped with donors such asSi or Ge at a donor density less than about 1×10¹⁹ cm⁻³, such as about5×10¹⁸ cm⁻³, or may be unintentionally doped. VCSELs 2502, 2504, and2506 may each include a cavity formed by a pair of DBR structures thatincludes a bottom DBR and a top DBR. One of the two DBRs (e.g., the topDBR) may have a very high reflectivity (e.g., >99%) for a wavelengthband, while the other DBR (e.g., the bottom DBR) may allow at least aportion of light in the wavelength band to pass through. Within thecavity, a buffer layer (e.g., an intrinsic InGaN layer) may be formed onthe bottom DBR and an active region that can emit light in thewavelength band may be grown on the buffer layer. Each DBR may includealternating GaN layers and porous GaN layers.

In the illustrated example, VCSEL 2502 may include a bottom DBR 2520, arelaxed InGaN layer 2530, an active region 2540 (which may also includethe p-GaN layer, not shown in FIG. 25 ), a top DBR 2550, and anelectrical contact 2560. Bottom DBR 2520 may include alternating GaNlayers and porous GaN layers having a certain porosity. The periodicity,the thicknesses of the GaN layers and the porous GaN layers, and theporosity of the porous GaN layers in bottom DBR 2520 may be configuredsuch that bottom DBR 2520 may reflect blue light. InGaN layer 2530 mayrelax by a certain amount due to the porous GaN layers under InGaN layer2530. Active region 2540 grown on InGaN layer 2530 may include, forexample, In_(x)Ga_(1-x)N with low x values and may emit blue light. TopDBR 2550 may include alternating GaN layers and porous GaN layers, ormay include other layers having alternating refractive indexes. VCSEL2502 may either emit blue light through top DBR 2550 or bottom DBR 2520.In embodiments where VCSEL 2502 emits blue light through bottom DBR2520, top DBR 2550 may be replaced by a metal reflector.

Similarly, VCSEL 2504 may include a bottom DBR 2522, a relaxed InGaNlayer 2532, an active region 2542, a top DBR 2552, and an electricalcontact 2562. Bottom DBR 2522 may include alternating GaN layers andporous GaN layers having a porosity similar to or different from theporosity of the porous GaN layers in bottom DBR 2520. The periodicity,the thicknesses of the GaN layers and the porous GaN layers, and theporosity of the porous GaN layers in bottom DBR 2522 may be configuredsuch that bottom DBR 2522 may reflect green light. InGaN layer 2532 mayrelax by a certain amount due to the porous GaN layers under InGaN layer2532. Active region 2542 grown on InGaN layer 2532 may include, forexample, In_(x)Ga_(1-x)N with higher x values and may emit green light.Top DBR 2552 may include alternating GaN layers and porous GaN layers,or may include other layers with alternating refractive indexes. VCSEL2504 may either emit green light through top DBR 2552 or bottom DBR2522. In embodiments where VCSEL 2504 emits green light through bottomDBR 2522, top DBR 2552 may be replaced by a metal reflector.

VCSEL 2506 may include a bottom DBR 2524, a relaxed InGaN layer 2534, anactive region 2544, a top DBR 2554, and an electrical contact 2564.Bottom DBR 2524 may include alternating GaN layers and porous GaN layershaving a porosity similar to or different from the porosity of theporous GaN layers in bottom DBR 2520 or bottom DBR 2522. Theperiodicity, the thicknesses of the GaN layers and the porous GaNlayers, and the porosity of the porous GaN layers in bottom DBR 2524 maybe configured such that bottom DBR 2524 may reflect red light. InGaNlayer 2534 may relax by a certain amount due to the porous GaN layersunder InGaN layer 2534. Active region 2544 grown on InGaN layer 2534 mayinclude, for example, In_(x)Ga_(1-x)N with high x values and may emitred light. Top DBR 2554 may include alternating GaN layers and porousGaN layers, or may include other layers with alternating refractiveindexes. VCSEL 2506 may either emit red light through top DBR 2554 orbottom DBR 2524. In embodiments where VCSEL 2506 emits red light throughbottom DBR 2524, top DBR 2554 may be replaced by a metal reflector.

In some embodiments, VCSELs 2502, 2504, and 2506 may each be fabricatedby first growing a layer stack including multiple pairs (e.g., >5 pairs,such as 8, 10, 16, or 20 pairs) of GaN layers and an intrinsic InGaNlayer, where each pair of GaN layers may include a GaN layer with a lowdoping density (e.g., <1×10¹⁹ cm⁻³ or unintentionally doped) and a GaNlayer with a high doping density (e.g., >1×10¹⁹ cm⁻³). Each GaN layer ina pair may have a respective thickness about tens of nanometers, such asabout 40, 50, or 60 nm. Three epitaxial growth processes may be used toseparately grow the layer stacks for VCSELs 2502, 2504, and 2506, wherethe low doping density and high doping density GaN layers in differentlayer stacks may have different thicknesses, different periodicity,different doping densities, and/or different numbers of layers.

The layer stacks may then be subjected to different porosity treatmentprocesses (e.g., different etching durations) as described above withrespect to, for example, FIGS. 21A-21D, or may be subjected to a sameporosity treatment process, to porosify the doped GaN layers. As such,the doped GaN layers may have different porosities. The porous GaNlayers may also have different refractive indexes due to the differentporosities. Thermal treatment processes as described above may beperformed to relax InGaN layers 2530, 2532, and 2534, which may relax bydifferent amounts due to the different porosities of the underlyingporous GaN layers. Active regions 2540, 2542, and 2544 may be grown onrelaxed InGaN layers 2530, 2532, and 2534, respectively. Active regions2540, 2542, and 2544 may incorporate different amounts of indium becauseof the different amounts of relaxation of relaxed InGaN layers 2530,2532, and 2534, and thus may emit light in different colors. Top DBRs2550, 2552, and 2554 and electrical contacts 2560, 2562, and 2564 maythen be formed on active regions 2540, 2542, and 2544 to form VCSELs2502, 2504, and 2506. VCSELs 2502, 2504, and 2506 may have higher beamquality than micro-LEDs, such as directional and symmetrical beamprofile, low beam divergence, and narrow full-width half-magnitude(FWHM) angular ranges. Therefore, a display including VCSELs 2502, 2504,and 2506 can have a higher efficiency and higher brightness.

In some embodiments, additional or alternative selective porosificationprocesses may be performed after wafer 2500 is bonded to an electricalbackplane and after substrate 2505 is removed, to porosify or furtherporosify the doped GaN layers in bottom DBRs 2520, 2522, and 2524, suchthat bottom DBRs 2520, 2522, and 2524 may reflect light in differentwavelength bands.

FIG. 26 includes a simplified flowchart 2600 illustrating an example ofa method of fabricating multi-color light emitting devices, such asmulti-color micro-LEDs or multi-color VCSELs, on a same wafer or dieaccording to certain embodiments. It is noted that the operationsillustrated in FIG. 26 provide particular processes for fabricatingmulti-color light emitting devices. Other sequences of operations canalso be performed according to alternative embodiments. For example,alternative embodiments may perform the operation in a different order.Moreover, the individual operations illustrated in FIG. 26 can includemultiple sub-operations that can be performed in various sequences asappropriate for the individual operation. Furthermore, some operationscan be added or removed depending on the particular applications. Insome implementations, two or more operations may be performed inparallel. One of ordinary skill in the art would recognize manyvariations, modifications, and alternatives.

The operations at block 2610 of flowchart 2600 may include forming aplurality of mesa structures on a layer of a first semiconductormaterial having a first lattice constant. The layer of the firstsemiconductor material may be grown on a substrate. Each mesa structureof the plurality of mesa structures may include an n⁺-type layer of thefirst semiconductor material and a layer of a second semiconductormaterial on the n⁺-type layer. The second semiconductor material mayhave a second lattice constant different from the first latticeconstant. The first semiconductor material may include a firstIII-nitride semiconductor material, such as GaN. The secondsemiconductor material may include a second III-nitride semiconductormaterial, such as InGaN. The layer of the second semiconductor materialmay include In_(x)Ga_(1-x)N, where 0<x≤0.2.

The operations at block 2620 may include performing a first porositytreatment process on a first set of mesa structures of the plurality ofmesa structures to form porous layers in the n⁺-type layers of the firstset of mesa structures. The first porosity treatment process may includeelectrochemically etching the n⁺-type layers of the first set of mesastructures for a first time period and/or using a first voltage signal.In some embodiments, the first porosity treatment process may includeimplanting ions in the n⁺-type layers of the first set of mesastructures to change a donor density of the n⁺-type layers of the firstset of mesa structures, and electrochemically etching the n⁺-type layersof the first set of mesa structures.

The operations at block 2630 may include performing a second porositytreatment process on a second set of mesa structures of the plurality ofmesa structures to form porous layers in the n⁺-type layers of thesecond set of mesa structures. The second porosity treatment process mayinclude electrochemically etching the n⁺-type layers of the second setof mesa structures for a second time period and/or using a secondvoltage signal that is different from (e.g., higher than) the firstvoltage signal. In some embodiments, the second porosity treatmentprocess may include implanting ions in the n⁺-type layers of the secondset of mesa structures to change a donor density of the n⁺-type layersof the second set of mesa structures, and electrochemically etching then⁺-type layers of the second set of mesa structures. The porosity of theporous layers in the second set of mesa structures may be different fromthe porosity of the porous layers in the first set of mesa structures.

In some embodiments, each mesa structure of the plurality of mesastructures may include a plurality of layers between the layer of thefirst semiconductor material and the layer of the second semiconductormaterial. The plurality of layers may include a first set ofunintentionally doped layers of the first semiconductor material and asecond set of n⁺-type layers of the first semiconductor material. Thefirst set of unintentionally doped layers and the second set of n⁺-typelayers may be interleaved. For each mesa structure of the first set ofmesa structures, the first porosity treatment process may form arespective porous layer in each of the second set of n⁺-type layers.Therefore, the plurality of layers in each mesa structure of the firstset of mesa structures may form a first DBR structure that includes aset of porous layers interleaved with a set of unintentionally dopedlayers. The first DBR structure may be configured to reflect light in afirst wavelength band. For each mesa structure of the second set of mesastructures, the second porosity treatment process may form a respectiveporous layer in each of the second set of n⁺-type layers. Therefore, theplurality of layers in each mesa structure of the second set of mesastructures may form a second DBR structure that includes a set of porouslayers interleaved with a set of unintentionally doped layers. Thesecond DBR structure may be configured to reflect light in a secondwavelength band.

The operations at block 2640 may include thermally treating theplurality of mesa structures to cause the layer of the secondsemiconductor material to relax. Because of the different porositiesbetween the porous layers in the first set of mesa structures and theporous layers in the second set of mesa structures, the layers of thesecond semiconductor material in the first set of mesa structures andthe layers of the second semiconductor material in the second set ofmesa structures may relax by different amounts.

Optionally, at block 2650, a first active region (and a p-GaN layer) maybe grown on each of the first set of mesa structures. The first activeregion includes at least one In_(x)Ga_(1-x)N quantum well layer and isconfigured to emit light in a first color, where x may be greater thanabout 0.2, due to the relaxation of the layers of the secondsemiconductor material in the first set of mesa structures. In someembodiments where each mesa structure of the first set of mesastructures includes the first DBR structure, a first mirror may beformed on the first active region to form, in combination with the firstDBR structure, a resonant cavity.

Optionally, at block 2660, a second active region (and a p-GaN layer)may be grown on each of the second set of mesa structures. The secondactive region includes an In_(y)Ga_(1-y)N quantum well layer and isconfigured to emit light in a second color, where y is different from xand may also be greater than about 0.2, due to the relaxation of thelayers of the second semiconductor material in the second set of mesastructures. In some embodiments, the first active regions and the secondactive regions may be grown in a same epitaxial growth step. In someembodiments where each mesa structure of the second set of mesastructures includes the second DBR structure, a second mirror may beformed on the second active region to form, in combination with thesecond DBR structure, a resonant cavity.

One or two-dimensional arrays of the LEDs described above may bemanufactured on a wafer to form light sources (e.g., light source 642).Driver circuits (e.g., driver circuit 644) may be fabricated, forexample, on a silicon wafer using CMOS processes. The LEDs and thedriver circuits on wafers may be diced and then bonded together, or maybe bonded on the wafer level and then diced. Various bonding techniquescan be used for bonding the LEDs and the driver circuits, such asadhesive bonding, metal-to-metal bonding, metal oxide bonding,wafer-to-wafer bonding, die-to-wafer bonding, hybrid bonding, and thelike.

FIG. 27A illustrates an example of a method of die-to-wafer bonding forarrays of LEDs according to certain embodiments. In the example shown inFIG. 27A, an LED array 2701 may include a plurality of LEDs 2707 on acarrier substrate 2705. Carrier substrate 2705 may include variousmaterials, such as GaAs, InP, GaN, AlN, sapphire, SiC, Si, or the like.LEDs 2707 may be fabricated by, for example, growing various epitaxiallayers, forming mesa structures, and forming electrical contacts orelectrodes, before performing the bonding. The epitaxial layers mayinclude various materials, such as GaN, InGaN, (AlGaIn)P, (AlGaIn)AsP,(AlGaIn)AsN, (AlGaIn)Pas, (Eu:InGa)N, (AlGaIn)N, or the like, and mayinclude an n-type layer, a p-type layer, and an active layer thatincludes one or more heterostructures, such as one or more quantum wellsor MQWs. The electrical contacts may include various conductivematerials, such as a metal or a metal alloy.

A wafer 2703 may include a base layer 2709 having passive or activeintegrated circuits (e.g., driver circuits 2711) fabricated thereon.Base layer 2709 may include, for example, a silicon wafer. Drivercircuits 2711 may be used to control the operations of LEDs 2707. Forexample, the driver circuit for each LED 2707 may include a 2T1C pixelstructure that has two transistors and one capacitor. Wafer 2703 mayalso include a bonding layer 2713. Bonding layer 2713 may includevarious materials, such as a metal, an oxide, a dielectric, CuSn, AuTi,and the like. In some embodiments, a patterned layer 2715 may be formedon a surface of bonding layer 2713, where patterned layer 2715 mayinclude a metallic grid made of a conductive material, such as Cu, Ag,Au, Al, or the like.

LED array 2701 may be bonded to wafer 2703 via bonding layer 2713 orpatterned layer 2715. For example, patterned layer 2715 may includemetal pads or bumps made of various materials, such as CuSn, AuSn, ornanoporous Au, that may be used to align LEDs 2707 of LED array 2701with corresponding driver circuits 2711 on wafer 2703. In one example,LED array 2701 may be brought toward wafer 2703 until LEDs 2707 comeinto contact with respective metal pads or bumps corresponding to drivercircuits 2711. Some or all of LEDs 2707 may be aligned with drivercircuits 2711, and may then be bonded to wafer 2703 via patterned layer2715 by various bonding techniques, such as metal-to-metal bonding.After LEDs 2707 have been bonded to wafer 2703, carrier substrate 2705may be removed from LEDs 2707.

FIG. 27B illustrates an example of a method of wafer-to-wafer bondingfor arrays of LEDs according to certain embodiments. As shown in FIG.27B, a first wafer 2702 may include a substrate 2704, a firstsemiconductor layer 2706, active layers 2708, and a second semiconductorlayer 2710. Substrate 2704 may include various materials, such as GaAs,InP, GaN, AlN, sapphire, SiC, Si, or the like. First semiconductor layer2706, active layers 2708, and second semiconductor layer 2710 mayinclude various semiconductor materials, such as GaN, InGaN, (AlGaIn)P,(AlGaIn)AsP, (AlGaIn)AsN, (AlGaIn)Pas, (Eu:InGa)N, (AlGaIn)N, or thelike. In some embodiments, first semiconductor layer 2706 may be ann-type layer, and second semiconductor layer 2710 may be a p-type layer.For example, first semiconductor layer 2706 may be an n-doped GaN layer(e.g., doped with Si or Ge), and second semiconductor layer 2710 may bea p-doped GaN layer (e.g., doped with Mg, Ca, Zn, or Be). Active layers2708 may include, for example, one or more GaN layers, one or more InGaNlayers, one or more AlInGaP layers, and the like, which may form one ormore heterostructures, such as one or more quantum wells or MQWs.

In some embodiments, first wafer 2702 may also include a bonding layer.Bonding layer 2712 may include various materials, such as a metal, anoxide, a dielectric, CuSn, AuTi, or the like. In one example, bondinglayer 2712 may include p-contacts and/or n-contacts (not shown). In someembodiments, other layers may also be included on first wafer 2702, suchas a buffer layer between substrate 2704 and first semiconductor layer2706. The buffer layer may include various materials, such aspolycrystalline GaN or AlN. In some embodiments, a contact layer may bebetween second semiconductor layer 2710 and bonding layer 2712. Thecontact layer may include any suitable material for providing anelectrical contact to second semiconductor layer 2710 and/or firstsemiconductor layer 2706.

First wafer 2702 may be bonded to wafer 2703 that includes drivercircuits 2711 and bonding layer 2713 as described above, via bondinglayer 2713 and/or bonding layer 2712. Bonding layer 2712 and bondinglayer 2713 may be made of the same material or different materials.Bonding layer 2713 and bonding layer 2712 may be substantially flat.First wafer 2702 may be bonded to wafer 2703 by various methods, such asmetal-to-metal bonding, eutectic bonding, metal oxide bonding, anodicbonding, thermo-compression bonding, ultraviolet (UV) bonding, and/orfusion bonding.

As shown in FIG. 27B, first wafer 2702 may be bonded to wafer 2703 withthe p-side (e.g., second semiconductor layer 2710) of first wafer 2702facing down (i.e., toward wafer 2703). After bonding, substrate 2704 maybe removed from first wafer 2702, and first wafer 2702 may then beprocessed from the n-side. The processing may include, for example, theformation of certain mesa shapes for individual LEDs, as well as theformation of optical components corresponding to the individual LEDs.

FIGS. 28A-28D illustrate an example of a method of hybrid bonding forarrays of LEDs according to certain embodiments. The hybrid bonding maygenerally include wafer cleaning and activation, high-precisionalignment of contacts of one wafer with contacts of another wafer,dielectric bonding of dielectric materials at the surfaces of the wafersat room temperature, and metal bonding of the contacts by annealing atelevated temperatures. FIG. 28A shows a substrate 2810 with passive oractive circuits 2820 manufactured thereon. As described above withrespect to FIGS. 27A-27B, substrate 2810 may include, for example, asilicon wafer. Circuits 2820 may include driver circuits for the arraysof LEDs. A bonding layer may include dielectric regions 2840 and contactpads 2830 connected to circuits 2820 through electrical interconnects2822. Contact pads 2830 may include, for example, Cu, Ag, Au, Al, W, Mo,Ni, Ti, Pt, Pd, or the like. Dielectric materials in dielectric regions2840 may include SiCN, SiO₂, SiN, Al₂O₃, HfO₂, ZrO₂, Ta₂O₅, or the like.The bonding layer may be planarized and polished using, for example,chemical mechanical polishing, where the planarization or polishing maycause dishing (a bowl like profile) in the contact pads. The surfaces ofthe bonding layers may be cleaned and activated by, for example, an ion(e.g., plasma) or fast atom (e.g., Ar) beam 2805. The activated surfacemay be atomically clean and may be reactive for formation of directbonds between wafers when they are brought into contact, for example, atroom temperature.

FIG. 28B illustrates a wafer 2850 including an array of micro-LEDs 2870fabricated thereon as described above. Wafer 2850 may be a carrier waferand may include, for example, GaAs, InP, GaN, AlN, sapphire, SiC, Si, orthe like. Micro-LEDs 2870 may include an n-type layer, an active region,and a p-type layer epitaxially grown on wafer 2850. The epitaxial layersmay include various III-V semiconductor materials described above, andmay be processed from the p-type layer side to etch mesa structures inthe epitaxial layers, such as substantially vertical structures,parabolic structures, conic structures, or the like. Passivation layersand/or reflection layers may be formed on the sidewalls of the mesastructures. P-contacts 2880 and n-contacts 2882 may be formed in adielectric material layer 2860 deposited on the mesa structures and maymake electrical contacts with the p-type layer and the n-type layers,respectively. Dielectric materials in dielectric material layer 2860 mayinclude, for example, SiCN, SiO₂, SiN, Al₂O₃, HfO₂, ZrO₂, Ta₂O₅, or thelike. P-contacts 2880 and n-contacts 2882 may include, for example, Cu,Ag, Au, Al, W, Mo, Ni, Ti, Pt, Pd, or the like. The top surfaces ofp-contacts 2880, n-contacts 2882, and dielectric material layer 2860 mayform a bonding layer. The bonding layer may be planarized and polishedusing, for example, chemical mechanical polishing, where the polishingmay cause dishing in p-contacts 2880 and n-contacts 2882. The bondinglayer may then be cleaned and activated by, for example, an ion (e.g.,plasma) or fast atom (e.g., Ar) beam 2815. The activated surface may beatomically clean and reactive for formation of direct bonds betweenwafers when they are brought into contact, for example, at roomtemperature.

FIG. 28C illustrates a room temperature bonding process for bonding thedielectric materials in the bonding layers. For example, after thebonding layer that includes dielectric regions 2840 and contact pads2830 and the bonding layer that includes p-contacts 2880, n-contacts2882, and dielectric material layer 2860 are surface activated, wafer2850 and micro-LEDs 2870 may be turned upside down and brought intocontact with substrate 2810 and the circuits formed thereon. In someembodiments, compression pressure 2825 may be applied to substrate 2810and wafer 2850 such that the bonding layers are pressed against eachother. Due to the surface activation and the dishing in the contacts,dielectric regions 2840 and dielectric material layer 2860 may be indirect contact because of the surface attractive force, and may reactand form chemical bonds between them because the surface atoms may havedangling bonds and may be in unstable energy states after theactivation. Thus, the dielectric materials in dielectric regions 2840and dielectric material layer 2860 may be bonded together with orwithout heat treatment or pressure.

FIG. 28D illustrates an annealing process for bonding the contacts inthe bonding layers after bonding the dielectric materials in the bondinglayers. For example, contact pads 2830 and p-contacts 2880 or n-contacts2882 may be bonded together by annealing at, for example, about 280-400°C. or higher. During the annealing process, heat 2835 may cause thecontacts to expand more than the dielectric materials (due to differentcoefficients of thermal expansion), and thus may close the dishing gapsbetween the contacts such that contact pads 2830 and p-contacts 2880 orn-contacts 2882 may be in contact and may form direct metallic bonds atthe activated surfaces.

In some embodiments where the two bonded wafers include materials havingdifferent coefficients of thermal expansion (CTEs), the dielectricmaterials bonded at room temperature may help to reduce or preventmisalignment of the contact pads caused by the different thermalexpansions. In some embodiments, to further reduce or avoid themisalignment of the contact pads at a high temperature during annealing,trenches may be formed between micro-LEDs, between groups of micro-LEDs,through part or all of the substrate, or the like, before bonding.

After the micro-LEDs are bonded to the driver circuits, the substrate onwhich the micro-LEDs are fabricated may be thinned or removed, andvarious secondary optical components may be fabricated on the lightemitting surfaces of the micro-LEDs to, for example, extract, collimate,and redirect the light emitted from the active regions of themicro-LEDs. In one example, micro-lenses may be formed on themicro-LEDs, where each micro-lens may correspond to a respectivemicro-LED and may help to improve the light extraction efficiency andcollimate the light emitted by the micro-LED. In some embodiments, thesecondary optical components may be fabricated in the substrate or then-type layer of the micro-LEDs. In some embodiments, the secondaryoptical components may be fabricated in a dielectric layer deposited onthe n-type side of the micro-LEDs. Examples of the secondary opticalcomponents may include a lens, a grating, an antireflection (AR)coating, a prism, a photonic crystal, or the like.

FIG. 29 illustrates an example of an LED array 2900 with secondaryoptical components fabricated thereon according to certain embodiments.LED array 2900 may be made by bonding an LED chip or wafer with asilicon wafer including electrical circuits fabricated thereon, usingany suitable bonding techniques described above with respect to, forexample, FIGS. 27A-28D. In the example shown in FIG. 29 , LED array 2900may be bonded using a wafer-to-wafer hybrid bonding technique asdescribed above with respect to FIG. 28A-28D. LED array 2900 may includea substrate 2910, which may be, for example, a silicon wafer. Integratedcircuits 2920, such as LED driver circuits, may be fabricated onsubstrate 2910. Integrated circuits 2920 may be connected to p-contacts2974 and n-contacts 2972 of micro-LEDs 2970 through interconnects 2922and contact pads 2930, where contact pads 2930 may form metallic bondswith p-contacts 2974 and n-contacts 2972. Dielectric layer 2940 onsubstrate 2910 may be bonded to dielectric layer 2960 through fusionbonding.

The substrate (not shown) of the LED chip or wafer may be thinned or maybe removed to expose the n-type layer 2950 of micro-LEDs 2970. Varioussecondary optical components, such as a spherical micro-lens 2982, agrating 2984, a micro-lens 2986, an antireflection layer 2988, and thelike, may be formed in or on top of n-type layer 2950. For example,spherical micro-lens arrays may be etched in the semiconductor materialsof micro-LEDs 2970 using a gray-scale mask and a photoresist with alinear response to exposure light, or using an etch mask formed bythermal reflowing of a patterned photoresist layer. The secondaryoptical components may also be etched in a dielectric layer deposited onn-type layer 2950 using similar photolithographic techniques or othertechniques. For example, micro-lens arrays may be formed in a polymerlayer through thermal reflowing of the polymer layer that is patternedusing a binary mask. The micro-lens arrays in the polymer layer may beused as the secondary optical components or may be used as the etch maskfor transferring the profiles of the micro-lens arrays into a dielectriclayer or a semiconductor layer. The dielectric layer may include, forexample, SiCN, SiO₂, SiN, Al₂O₃, HfO₂, ZrO₂, Ta₂O₅, or the like. In someembodiments, a micro-LED 2970 may have multiple corresponding secondaryoptical components, such as a micro-lens and an anti-reflection coating,a micro-lens etched in the semiconductor material and a micro-lensetched in a dielectric material layer, a micro-lens and a grating, aspherical lens and an aspherical lens, and the like. Three differentsecondary optical components are illustrated in FIG. 29 to show someexamples of secondary optical components that can be formed onmicro-LEDs 2970, which does not necessary imply that different secondaryoptical components are used simultaneously for every LED array.

Embodiments disclosed herein may be used to implement components of anartificial reality system or may be implemented in conjunction with anartificial reality system. Artificial reality is a form of reality thathas been adjusted in some manner before presentation to a user, whichmay include, for example, a virtual reality, an augmented reality, amixed reality, a hybrid reality, or some combination and/or derivativesthereof. Artificial reality content may include completely generatedcontent or generated content combined with captured (e.g., real-world)content. The artificial reality content may include video, audio, hapticfeedback, or some combination thereof, and any of which may be presentedin a single channel or in multiple channels (such as stereo video thatproduces a three-dimensional effect to the viewer). Additionally, insome embodiments, artificial reality may also be associated withapplications, products, accessories, services, or some combinationthereof, that are used to, for example, create content in an artificialreality and/or are otherwise used in (e.g., perform activities in) anartificial reality. The artificial reality system that provides theartificial reality content may be implemented on various platforms,including an HMD connected to a host computer system, a standalone HMD,a mobile device or computing system, or any other hardware platformcapable of providing artificial reality content to one or more viewers.

FIG. 30 is a simplified block diagram of an example electronic system3000 of an example near-eye display (e.g., HMD device) for implementingsome of the examples disclosed herein. Electronic system 3000 may beused as the electronic system of an HMD device or other near-eyedisplays described above. In this example, electronic system 3000 mayinclude one or more processor(s) 3010 and a memory 3020. Processor(s)3010 may be configured to execute instructions for performing operationsat a number of components, and can be, for example, a general-purposeprocessor or microprocessor suitable for implementation within aportable electronic device. Processor(s) 3010 may be communicativelycoupled with a plurality of components within electronic system 3000. Torealize this communicative coupling, processor(s) 3010 may communicatewith the other illustrated components across a bus 3040. Bus 3040 may beany subsystem adapted to transfer data within electronic system 3000.Bus 3040 may include a plurality of computer buses and additionalcircuitry to transfer data.

Memory 3020 may be coupled to processor(s) 3010. In some embodiments,memory 3020 may offer both short-term and long-term storage and may bedivided into several units. Memory 3020 may be volatile, such as staticrandom access memory (SRAM) and/or dynamic random access memory (DRAM)and/or non-volatile, such as read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, andthe like. Furthermore, memory 3020 may include removable storagedevices, such as secure digital (SD) cards. Memory 3020 may providestorage of computer-readable instructions, data structures, programmodules, and other data for electronic system 3000. In some embodiments,memory 3020 may be distributed into different hardware modules. A set ofinstructions and/or code might be stored on memory 3020. Theinstructions might take the form of executable code that may beexecutable by electronic system 3000, and/or might take the form ofsource and/or installable code, which, upon compilation and/orinstallation on electronic system 3000 (e.g., using any of a variety ofgenerally available compilers, installation programs,compression/decompression utilities, etc.), may take the form ofexecutable code.

In some embodiments, memory 3020 may store a plurality of applicationmodules 3022 through 3024, which may include any number of applications.Examples of applications may include gaming applications, conferencingapplications, video playback applications, or other suitableapplications. The applications may include a depth sensing function oreye tracking function. Application modules 3022-3024 may includeparticular instructions to be executed by processor(s) 3010. In someembodiments, certain applications or parts of application modules3022-3024 may be executable by other hardware modules 3080. In certainembodiments, memory 3020 may additionally include secure memory, whichmay include additional security controls to prevent copying or otherunauthorized access to secure information.

In some embodiments, memory 3020 may include an operating system 3025loaded therein. Operating system 3025 may be operable to initiate theexecution of the instructions provided by application modules 3022-3024and/or manage other hardware modules 3080 as well as interfaces with awireless communication subsystem 3030 which may include one or morewireless transceivers. Operating system 3025 may be adapted to performother operations across the components of electronic system 3000including threading, resource management, data storage control and othersimilar functionality.

Wireless communication subsystem 3030 may include, for example, aninfrared communication device, a wireless communication device and/orchipset (such as a Bluetooth® device, an IEEE 802.11 device, a Wi-Fidevice, a WiMax device, cellular communication facilities, etc.), and/orsimilar communication interfaces. Electronic system 3000 may include oneor more antennas 3034 for wireless communication as part of wirelesscommunication subsystem 3030 or as a separate component coupled to anyportion of the system. Depending on desired functionality, wirelesscommunication subsystem 3030 may include separate transceivers tocommunicate with base transceiver stations and other wireless devicesand access points, which may include communicating with different datanetworks and/or network types, such as wireless wide-area networks(WWANs), wireless local area networks (WLANs), or wireless personal areanetworks (WPANs). A WWAN may be, for example, a WiMax (IEEE 802.16)network. A WLAN may be, for example, an IEEE 802.11x network. A WPAN maybe, for example, a Bluetooth network, an IEEE 802.15x, or some othertypes of network. The techniques described herein may also be used forany combination of WWAN, WLAN, and/or WPAN.

Wireless communications subsystem 3030 may permit data to be exchangedwith a network, other computer systems, and/or any other devicesdescribed herein. Wireless communication subsystem 3030 may include ameans for transmitting or receiving data, such as identifiers of HMDdevices, position data, a geographic map, a heat map, photos, or videos,using antenna(s) 3034 and wireless link(s) 3032. Wireless communicationsubsystem 3030, processor(s) 3010, and memory 3020 may together compriseat least a part of one or more of a means for performing some functionsdisclosed herein.

Embodiments of electronic system 3000 may also include one or moresensors 3090. Sensor(s) 3090 may include, for example, an image sensor,an accelerometer, a pressure sensor, a temperature sensor, a proximitysensor, a magnetometer, a gyroscope, an inertial sensor (e.g., a modulethat combines an accelerometer and a gyroscope), an ambient lightsensor, or any other similar module operable to provide sensory outputand/or receive sensory input, such as a depth sensor or a positionsensor. For example, in some implementations, sensor(s) 3090 may includeone or more inertial measurement units (IMUs) and/or one or moreposition sensors. An IMU may generate calibration data indicating anestimated position of the HMD device relative to an initial position ofthe HMD device, based on measurement signals received from one or moreof the position sensors. A position sensor may generate one or moremeasurement signals in response to motion of the HMD device. Examples ofthe position sensors may include, but are not limited to, one or moreaccelerometers, one or more gyroscopes, one or more magnetometers,another suitable type of sensor that detects motion, a type of sensorused for error correction of the IMU, or any combination thereof. Theposition sensors may be located external to the IMU, internal to theIMU, or any combination thereof. At least some sensors may use astructured light pattern for sensing.

Electronic system 3000 may include a display module 3060. Display module3060 may be a near-eye display, and may graphically present information,such as images, videos, and various instructions, from electronic system3000 to a user. Such information may be derived from one or moreapplication modules 3022-3024, virtual reality engine 3026, one or moreother hardware modules 3080, a combination thereof, or any othersuitable means for resolving graphical content for the user (e.g., byoperating system 3025). Display module 3060 may use LCD technology, LEDtechnology (including, for example, OLED, ILED, μ-LED, AMOLED, TOLED,etc.), light emitting polymer display (LPD) technology, or some otherdisplay technology.

Electronic system 3000 may include a user input/output module 3070. Userinput/output module 3070 may allow a user to send action requests toelectronic system 3000. An action request may be a request to perform aparticular action. For example, an action request may be to start or endan application or to perform a particular action within the application.User input/output module 3070 may include one or more input devices.Example input devices may include a touchscreen, a touch pad,microphone(s), button(s), dial(s), switch(es), a keyboard, a mouse, agame controller, or any other suitable device for receiving actionrequests and communicating the received action requests to electronicsystem 3000. In some embodiments, user input/output module 3070 mayprovide haptic feedback to the user in accordance with instructionsreceived from electronic system 3000. For example, the haptic feedbackmay be provided when an action request is received or has beenperformed.

Electronic system 3000 may include a camera 3050 that may be used totake photos or videos of a user, for example, for tracking the user'seye position. Camera 3050 may also be used to take photos or videos ofthe environment, for example, for VR, AR, or MR applications. Camera3050 may include, for example, a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor(CMOS) image sensor with a few millions or tens of millions of pixels.In some implementations, camera 3050 may include two or more camerasthat may be used to capture 3-D images.

In some embodiments, electronic system 3000 may include a plurality ofother hardware modules 3080. Each of other hardware modules 3080 may bea physical module within electronic system 3000. While each of otherhardware modules 3080 may be permanently configured as a structure, someof other hardware modules 3080 may be temporarily configured to performspecific functions or temporarily activated. Examples of other hardwaremodules 3080 may include, for example, an audio output and/or inputmodule (e.g., a microphone or speaker), a near field communication (NFC)module, a rechargeable battery, a battery management system, awired/wireless battery charging system, etc. In some embodiments, one ormore functions of other hardware modules 3080 may be implemented insoftware.

In some embodiments, memory 3020 of electronic system 3000 may alsostore a virtual reality engine 3026. Virtual reality engine 3026 mayexecute applications within electronic system 3000 and receive positioninformation, acceleration information, velocity information, predictedfuture positions, or any combination thereof of the HMD device from thevarious sensors. In some embodiments, the information received byvirtual reality engine 3026 may be used for producing a signal (e.g.,display instructions) to display module 3060. For example, if thereceived information indicates that the user has looked to the left,virtual reality engine 3026 may generate content for the HMD device thatmirrors the user's movement in a virtual environment. Additionally,virtual reality engine 3026 may perform an action within an applicationin response to an action request received from user input/output module3070 and provide feedback to the user. The provided feedback may bevisual, audible, or haptic feedback. In some implementations,processor(s) 3010 may include one or more GPUs that may execute virtualreality engine 3026.

In various implementations, the above-described hardware and modules maybe implemented on a single device or on multiple devices that cancommunicate with one another using wired or wireless connections. Forexample, in some implementations, some components or modules, such asGPUs, virtual reality engine 3026, and applications (e.g., trackingapplication), may be implemented on a console separate from thehead-mounted display device. In some implementations, one console may beconnected to or support more than one HMD.

In alternative configurations, different and/or additional componentsmay be included in electronic system 3000. Similarly, functionality ofone or more of the components can be distributed among the components ina manner different from the manner described above. For example, in someembodiments, electronic system 3000 may be modified to include othersystem environments, such as an AR system environment and/or an MRenvironment.

The methods, systems, and devices discussed above are examples. Variousembodiments may omit, substitute, or add various procedures orcomponents as appropriate. For instance, in alternative configurations,the methods described may be performed in an order different from thatdescribed, and/or various stages may be added, omitted, and/or combined.Also, features described with respect to certain embodiments may becombined in various other embodiments. Different aspects and elements ofthe embodiments may be combined in a similar manner. Also, technologyevolves and, thus, many of the elements are examples that do not limitthe scope of the disclosure to those specific examples.

Specific details are given in the description to provide a thoroughunderstanding of the embodiments. However, embodiments may be practicedwithout these specific details. For example, well-known circuits,processes, systems, structures, and techniques have been shown withoutunnecessary detail in order to avoid obscuring the embodiments. Thisdescription provides example embodiments only, and is not intended tolimit the scope, applicability, or configuration of the invention.Rather, the preceding description of the embodiments will provide thoseskilled in the art with an enabling description for implementing variousembodiments. Various changes may be made in the function and arrangementof elements without departing from the spirit and scope of the presentdisclosure.

Also, some embodiments were described as processes depicted as flowdiagrams or block diagrams. Although each may describe the operations asa sequential process, many of the operations may be performed inparallel or concurrently. In addition, the order of the operations maybe rearranged. A process may have additional steps not included in thefigure. Furthermore, embodiments of the methods may be implemented byhardware, software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardwaredescription languages, or any combination thereof. When implemented insoftware, firmware, middleware, or microcode, the program code or codesegments to perform the associated tasks may be stored in acomputer-readable medium such as a storage medium. Processors mayperform the associated tasks.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that substantialvariations may be made in accordance with specific requirements. Forexample, customized or special-purpose hardware might also be used,and/or particular elements might be implemented in hardware, software(including portable software, such as applets, etc.), or both. Further,connection to other computing devices such as network input/outputdevices may be employed.

With reference to the appended figures, components that can includememory can include non-transitory machine-readable media. The term“machine-readable medium” and “computer-readable medium” may refer toany storage medium that participates in providing data that causes amachine to operate in a specific fashion. In embodiments providedhereinabove, various machine-readable media might be involved inproviding instructions/code to processing units and/or other device(s)for execution. Additionally or alternatively, the machine-readable mediamight be used to store and/or carry such instructions/code. In manyimplementations, a computer-readable medium is a physical and/ortangible storage medium. Such a medium may take many forms, including,but not limited to, non-volatile media, volatile media, and transmissionmedia. Common forms of computer-readable media include, for example,magnetic and/or optical media such as compact disk (CD) or digitalversatile disk (DVD), punch cards, paper tape, any other physical mediumwith patterns of holes, a RAM, a programmable read-only memory (PROM),an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), a FLASH-EPROM, anyother memory chip or cartridge, a carrier wave as described hereinafter,or any other medium from which a computer can read instructions and/orcode. A computer program product may include code and/ormachine-executable instructions that may represent a procedure, afunction, a subprogram, a program, a routine, an application (App), asubroutine, a module, a software package, a class, or any combination ofinstructions, data structures, or program statements.

Those of skill in the art will appreciate that information and signalsused to communicate the messages described herein may be representedusing any of a variety of different technologies and techniques. Forexample, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits,symbols, and chips that may be referenced throughout the abovedescription may be represented by voltages, currents, electromagneticwaves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields or particles, or anycombination thereof.

Terms, “and” and “or” as used herein, may include a variety of meaningsthat are also expected to depend at least in part upon the context inwhich such terms are used. Typically, “or” if used to associate a list,such as A, B, or C, is intended to mean A, B, and C, here used in theinclusive sense, as well as A, B, or C, here used in the exclusivesense. In addition, the term “one or more” as used herein may be used todescribe any feature, structure, or characteristic in the singular ormay be used to describe some combination of features, structures, orcharacteristics. However, it should be noted that this is merely anillustrative example and claimed subject matter is not limited to thisexample. Furthermore, the term “at least one of” if used to associate alist, such as A, B, or C, can be interpreted to mean any combination ofA, B, and/or C, such as A, AB, AC, BC, AA, ABC, AAB, AABBCCC, etc.

Further, while certain embodiments have been described using aparticular combination of hardware and software, it should be recognizedthat other combinations of hardware and software are also possible.Certain embodiments may be implemented only in hardware, or only insoftware, or using combinations thereof. In one example, software may beimplemented with a computer program product containing computer programcode or instructions executable by one or more processors for performingany or all of the steps, operations, or processes described in thisdisclosure, where the computer program may be stored on a non-transitorycomputer readable medium. The various processes described herein can beimplemented on the same processor or different processors in anycombination.

Where devices, systems, components or modules are described as beingconfigured to perform certain operations or functions, suchconfiguration can be accomplished, for example, by designing electroniccircuits to perform the operation, by programming programmableelectronic circuits (such as microprocessors) to perform the operationsuch as by executing computer instructions or code, or processors orcores programmed to execute code or instructions stored on anon-transitory memory medium, or any combination thereof. Processes cancommunicate using a variety of techniques, including, but not limitedto, conventional techniques for inter-process communications, anddifferent pairs of processes may use different techniques, or the samepair of processes may use different techniques at different times.

The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in anillustrative rather than a restrictive sense. It will, however, beevident that additions, subtractions, deletions, and other modificationsand changes may be made thereunto without departing from the broaderspirit and scope as set forth in the claims. Thus, although specificembodiments have been described, these are not intended to be limiting.Various modifications and equivalents are within the scope of thefollowing claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A light emitting diode (LED) device comprising: asubstrate; and a plurality of mesa structures on the substrate, eachmesa structure of the plurality of mesa structures comprising: a layerof a first semiconductor material grown on the substrate; a porous layerof the first semiconductor material on the layer of the firstsemiconductor material, the porous layer characterized by an arealporosity equal to or greater than 15%; a layer of a second semiconductormaterial on the porous layer, the second semiconductor materialcharacterized by a lattice constant greater than a lattice constant ofthe first semiconductor material; an active region on the layer of thesecond semiconductor material, the active region configured to emit redlight, wherein the active region includes at least one quantum welllayer including InGaN; a p-contact layer on the active region; adielectric layer on sidewalls of the p-contact layer and the activeregion; and an n-contact layer in physical contact with at least aportion of sidewalls of the layer of the second semiconductor material,wherein the n-contact layer is on sidewalls of the porous layer and atleast a portion of sidewalls of the layer of the first semiconductormaterial.
 2. The LED device of claim 1, wherein: the first semiconductormaterial includes a first III-nitride semiconductor material; and thesecond semiconductor material includes a second III-nitridesemiconductor material.
 3. The LED device of claim 2, wherein the firstsemiconductor material includes GaN and the second semiconductormaterial includes InGaN.
 4. The LED device of claim 1, wherein the atleast one quantum well layer includes In_(x)Ga_(1-x)N, where x>0.2. 5.The LED device of claim 1, wherein the layer of the second semiconductormaterial includes In_(x)Ga_(1-x)N, where 0<x≤0.2.
 6. The LED device ofclaim 1, wherein the dielectric layer is between the n-contact layer andthe sidewalls of the p-contact layer and the active region.
 7. The LEDdevice of claim 1, wherein the dielectric layer is on a portion of thesidewalls of the layer of the second semiconductor material.
 8. The LEDdevice of claim 1, wherein the areal porosity of the porous layer isbetween 30% and 90%.
 9. The LED device of claim 1, wherein the layer ofthe second semiconductor material has a lower resistance than the porouslayer.
 10. The LED device of claim 1, wherein a thickness of the porouslayer is greater than 50 nm.
 11. The LED device of claim 1, wherein thesubstrate includes a buffer layer and a sapphire or silicon substratelayer.
 12. The LED device of claim 1, wherein: the layer of the firstsemiconductor material and the porous layer are n-doped; and adifference between a doping density of the porous layer and the dopingdensity of the layer of the first semiconductor material is less than5%.
 13. The LED device of claim 1, further comprising a patterneddielectric layer on the substrate, wherein: the substrate includes abuffer layer; the patterned dielectric layer is on the buffer layer andincludes a plurality of apertures to expose portions of the substrate;and the layer of the first semiconductor material in each mesa structureof the plurality of mesa structures is grown on a respective portion ofthe buffer layer through a respective aperture of the plurality ofapertures.
 14. The LED device of claim 1, further comprising a driverbackplane bonded to the plurality of mesa structures, the driverbackplane including driver circuits electrically connected to thep-contact layer and the n-contact layer of each mesa structure of theplurality of mesa structures.
 15. A method of fabricating a lightemitting diode (LED) device, the method comprising: forming a pluralityof precursor mesa structures on a substrate, each precursor mesastructure of the plurality of precursor mesa structures comprising: alayer of a first semiconductor material grown on the substrate; a porouslayer of the first semiconductor material on the layer of the firstsemiconductor material, the porous layer characterized by an arealporosity equal to or greater than 15%; and a layer of a secondsemiconductor material on the porous layer, the second semiconductormaterial characterized by a lattice constant greater than a latticeconstant of the first semiconductor material; forming an LED layer stackon each precursor mesa structure of the plurality of precursor mesastructures, the LED layer stack comprising: an active region on thelayer of the second semiconductor material, the active region configuredto emit red light; and a p-contact layer on the active region; etching,using a mask layer, the LED layer stack to remove peripheral regions ofthe LED layer stack and to form one or more pixel mesa structures oneach precursor mesa structure of the plurality of precursor mesastructures; forming a dielectric layer on sidewalls of each pixel mesastructures of the one or more pixel mesa structures; etching, using themask layer on the one or more pixel mesa structure, the plurality ofprecursor mesa structures on the substrate; and forming an n-contactlayer on sidewalls of each pixel mesa structure of the one or more pixelmesa structures, the n-contact layer in physical contact with thedielectric layer, at least a portion of sidewalls of the layer of thesecond semiconductor material, and sidewalls of the porous layer. 16.The method of claim 15, wherein forming the plurality of precursor mesastructures on the substrate comprises: growing an epitaxial layer stackon the substrate, the epitaxial layer stack including: the layer of thefirst semiconductor material; an n⁺-type layer of the firstsemiconductor material; and the layer of the second semiconductormaterial on the n⁺-type layer; electrochemically etching the n⁺-typelayer of the first semiconductor material to form the porous layer;etching the epitaxial layer stack to form the plurality of precursormesa structures; and thermally treating the plurality of precursor mesastructures to cause the layer of the second semiconductor material torelax.
 17. The method of claim 16, wherein: the layer of the firstsemiconductor material is n-doped with a doping density less than 1×10¹⁹cm⁻³; the n⁺-type layer of the first semiconductor material has a higherdoping density than the layer of the first semiconductor material; andelectrochemically etching the n⁺-type layer of the first semiconductormaterial comprises etching the n⁺-type layer of the first semiconductormaterial until a difference between a doping density of the n⁺-typelayer and a doping density of the layer of the first semiconductormaterial is less than 5%.
 18. The method of claim 15, wherein formingthe plurality of precursor mesa structures on the substrate comprises:forming a patterned dielectric layer on the substrate, the patterneddielectric layer including a plurality of apertures to expose portionsof a buffer layer on the substrate; growing, through a respectiveaperture of the plurality of apertures, a respective epitaxial layerstack on each exposed portion of the exposed portions of the bufferlayer on substrate, the respective epitaxial layer stack including: thelayer of the first semiconductor material; an n⁺-type layer of the firstsemiconductor material; and the layer of the second semiconductormaterial on the n⁺-type layer; electrochemically etching the n⁺-typelayer of the first semiconductor material to form the porous layer; andthermally treating the plurality of precursor mesa structures to causethe layer of the second semiconductor material to relax.
 19. The methodof claim 15, wherein forming the LED layer stack comprises: forming agrowth mask layer on sidewalls of each precursor mesa structure of theplurality of precursor mesa structures; growing the active region on thelayer of the second semiconductor material; and forming the p-contactlayer on the active region.